


After Story: Companionship

by Magnus_Prime



Category: Clannad
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-10-24 04:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 39,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10733817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnus_Prime/pseuds/Magnus_Prime
Summary: An 'After' story based on Misae's route from the VN/Anime 'Clannad'. What starts as simple revenge against Tomoya's antics becomes an adventure that deepens the relationships between friends.





	1. Chapter 1

**After Story: Companionship** **  
** _a Tomoya/Misae fanfiction_

 

**Chapter One: Turnabout**

I ran my hand through a mop of bed head as I made my way downstairs to the front door. “Yes, I’m coming…” Who would be knocking at my door on a Sunday?

My unspoken question was answered as I opened the door to reveal Furukawa, wearing an attractive brown dress and a perplexed expression. “Oh! Okazaki-san, good morning!”

“’Morning,” I replied, not sure about the ‘good’ part just yet.

“I’m sorry, is this a bad time?” she asked, now with a worried expression.

I waved off her concern. “No, it’s fine. I really should be up, anyways.” I rubbed at my eyes. “What can I do for you?”

Her ‘antennae’ swayed as she shifted from foot to foot. “Sagara-san told me that you could help me with my problem.”

“Huh?” I suddenly woke up fully. “Misae-san did?”

Furukawa nodded. “She told me that if I brought my problem to you, you could help.”

“Well, what’s going…hold on, come inside,” I stepped to the side, and she entered the house. “Let me get changed and then you can tell me what’s going on.”

“Okay.”

While I changed I mulled over the situation. “So Misae-san had sent Furukawa for me to help her with…” My face broke out in a smile. “I guess I asked for it, didn’t I?”

It looked as though Misae had sent her to me as revenge of a sort for my little stunt a while back. I had sent a whole bunch of girls to her for love advice to try to learn about her old boyfriend, and now she was returning the favor by sending people to me. “It’s just a theory, of course, since Furukawa’s the only one so far, but…”

I finished changing and headed back downstairs, to find that she had made herself at home, preparing tea in the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Okazaki-san; I was nervous and needed to do something.”

I remembered the likely reason for her nerves; she had gone to Misae for advice while I hid under the bed and learned about her feelings for me. If they were still the same as back then…I shoved that thought aside. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry for being a bad host.”

Her nerves were on full display as the teacup rattled against the saucer as she placed it on the kotatsu. “I-I hope you like it, Okazaki-san.”

“If I don’t, it’s my own fault since it’s my tea in the first place,” I said light-heartedly.

“O-Oh…of course,” she replied, her face flaring up.

“So…what can I do for you?”

She rubbed her hands together and looked down at the tabletop as she fidgeted. “W-Well…the Drama Club isn’t doing as well as I h-had hoped, so Sagara-san suggested that I talk to you again.”

I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms. “What are you hoping I can do?”

“I don’t know…” She suddenly looked up at me. “But if anyone can help me, I know you can!”

Her earnest look, the words ‘help me’…I gave in immediately. “All right Furukawa, fine; I’ll see what I can do.”

***

I ran my hand through a mop of bed head as I made my way downstairs to the front door. “Yes, I’m coming…” Who would be knocking at my door at this early an hour on a Monday?

My unspoken question was answered as I opened the door to reveal Sakagami, wearing her school uniform and an intense expression. “Okazaki, good morning.”

“’Morning,” I replied, not sure about the ‘good’ part just yet.

“Did you just get up?” she asked, now with a worried expression.

I waved off her concern. “Yeah I did, but don’t worry about it.” I rubbed at my eyes. “What can I do for you?”

The intensity of her gaze wavered as she bit her lip. “Sagara-san told me that you could help me with my problem.”

“Huh?” I suddenly woke up fully. “Misae-san did?” Again? I inwardly grumbled; Misae’s work again.

She nodded. “She told me that if I told you my problem that you could help.”

“Well, what’s going…hold on, come inside,” I stepped to the side to let her in. “Let me get dressed and then you can tell me about it on the way to school.”

“Okay.”

While I changed I mulled over the situation. “So Misae-san sent Sakagami this time …” My face broke out in a smile. “I really did ask for it, didn’t I?” Her plot was starting to become clearer.

I finished changing and headed back downstairs to find that she had made herself at home, preparing tea in the kitchen. “I hope this is okay, Okazaki; I was nervous and needed to keep my hands busy.”

“It’s fine,” I said, feeling a bit of déjà vu. “Sorry for being a bad host.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied smoothly as she brought out the tea. “Everyone has their different strengths, right?”

“I guess.”

We quickly drank our tea and headed out the door. Tea wasn’t much of a breakfast, but I had gotten my allowance and could afford to splurge a little for a bigger lunch.

“So…what do you need?” I asked as we made our way to school.

I noticed a definite hesitation before she answered. “Some of the people who agreed to help set up for the festival have gotten sick, and I really need help.”

“You need someone to help with the heavy lifting and stuff, I assume?”

Her silver hair swayed as she shook her head, and I definitely smelled something sweet. “No. Well, sort of. I can handle carrying stuff around, but one of the guys who got sick was supposed to help coordinate the construction.”

My brow furrowed. “So what do you need me for? Why do you think I can help?”

She looked at me with an unusual intensity. “Like I said, Sagara-san said you could do it.” Then something in her expression changed. “I…really believe that you’re the only one who can help me.”

‘Help me’… That phrase, along with her intense look …I gave in immediately. “All right, Miss Student Body President…I’ll see what I can do.” I said, knowing full well that I had just committed myself to helping two people.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Dogpiling**

“Okazaki-kun?”

I looked up from packing my book bag in preparation to head home for the day. “Yeah, Fujibayashi?”

As was usual for her, the class president looked uncomfortable. “I wanted to ask…well…I…wanted to ask…”

“Are you sure you still want to ask?” I teased while giving her a smile.

It was cute the way she stamped her foot. “Ooooohhhhh…”

“Sorry, sorry…” I said. “I’d like to get going though, so…” I trailed off while giving her a meaningful look.

Her face turned so red I thought she would start sweating lava. “I, uh…saw that you…well, p-passed the last math test and…I wasn’t snooping, really!” She waved her hands defensively. “I saw that you did really well and was hoping you’d help me study!”

“Ack! Shhhhh!” I whispered loudly. “Keep it down! I don’t want you-know-who to hear about it.” I jerked my thumb to Sunohara for emphasis. “Or anyone else, for that matter.”

She immediately brought her voice to a whisper. “Sorry! It’s just that you did so much better than I did, so I want your help.”

“I can’t be the only one who did better than…waitaminute…” My statement was starting to sound like an insult. Not what I wanted. “What I mean is that there have to be other people who would be better for helping you. What about your sister?”

“Her sister did even worse.” I turned to find Kyou approaching us. “I don’t know why I’m not getting it, but you sure are, so we’re asking for your help.”

“Please, Okazaki-kun.” Fujibayashi was nearly begging, hands folded and all. “I…well, we…think you’re the only one who can help us.”

 _“Help us…”_ Crap; my button had been pressed. But! “I’ve already promised to help Furukawa and the student body president – don’t ask!” I exclaimed, raising a hand as Kyou started to open her mouth. “Just…don’t ask, okay?”

Kyou glared at me but, to her credit, closed her mouth.

Surprisingly, Fujibayashi was more persistent. “Please, Okazaki-kun! Any time you can spare! Whenever! Wherever! You let us know when you can and we will be there.” She looked over at her sister, who nodded.

I sighed. I was still feeling the effects of the ‘Help us’. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.” I raised a hand as they started to celebrate. “I can’t make any promises right now, though.”

“We understand,” Kyou replied. “Just let us know, okay?”

I nodded, but one question came to me from a flash of intuition. “Just one question, though; I can’t be the only one who could help you. Whose idea was it to come to me?” I’d always been a lousy student, so I should have been disqualified from the beginning.

I watched as the twins looked at each other. “Should we tell him?” Kyou asked.

“It could end up being a trust issue if we don’t,” Fujibayashi suggested.

“Fine.” Kyou turned back to me and ran a hand through her hair. “We talked to the dorm mother for the boys’ dorm.”

I figured.

“We heard that she gave great advice, so we went and talked to her about lo- I mean, about our math situation,” Fujibayashi said with another volcano of a blush.

“Why didn’t you just talk to the teacher?” I asked. “He could have given you more names.”

“Look, we talked to her, she suggested you, end of story,” Kyou asserted. “Any more questions?”

“No, that was it.” I was fortunate to be out of questions, since hitting one of Kyou’s tripwires was generally a bad idea.

“Thank you again, Okazaki-kun,” Fujibayashi gushed as they hustled out of the classroom.

“You’re welcome,” I muttered into an empty classroom. How was I supposed to juggle this?

***

“That sounds like a real challenge,” Yukine said sympathetically as she placed the coffee before me.

Next to me, Sunohara slurped at his mug before setting it down. “That’s amazing, Okazaki. Two class presidents and the student body president? Whatever you’re eating, I want the recipe!”

I glowered at him while Yukine giggled. “I wouldn’t mind trying the recipe,” she said. “I mean, to try to make it. I don’t think I want to be successful with girls like that.”

“That’s good,” I remarked. “I’d hate for us boys to miss out on your beauty.” She blushed molten and I quickly replayed my words. “I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to hit on you!”

“That’s okay,” she squeaked. “I’m glad you think I’m pretty.”

“Beautiful,” Sunohara said, sending her face molten again.

“Ease off, man; you’re going to send her to the infirmary,” I chastised.

“I’m okay,” she squeaked again. “I’m just not used to being praised this much.”

“Let’s talk about something else while she recovers,” I suggested.

“Thank you.” Yukine took a deep breath, and her face started to return to its usual color. “Actually, it’s a shame that you’re so busy.”

“Why’s that?” I asked as I lifted my mug to my mouth again.

“Well…” she shifted in her seat. “I’ve been wanting to reorganize the books in here. They’ve been out of order for so long that I’m having trouble finding new stuff to read.”

A lopsided smile broke out on my face as I tried to swallow. “You want me to clean up your library for you?”

“Huh?” she looked genuinely perplexed at my words. “Oh! No, it’s not that!” She ducked her head meekly. “Well, partly I guess. I just want everything looking nice in here so maybe other people can come in and easily find what they want to read.”

“Well,” Sunohara said as he clapped my shoulder, “looks like you’ve got this.” And with that Yukine and I watched as he got up and left the room.

“That was weird,” I said as I turned back to her. “He’s never done that bef – hey, are you okay?”

She wasn’t blushing as badly as she was before, but it sure looked like she was working on it. “I-It just surprised me, that’s all.”

I didn’t get it, and I’m sure it showed on my face. “Well, whatever,” I said, trying to brush it off. “Anyway-”

“I wanted to ask you about this because you’re such a nice guy and would be willing to help me!” she blurted out.

I was taken aback. Yukine had never spoken so forcefully before, and with so much intensity.

“But why me?” I asked, trying to fight the pressing of my ‘Help me’ button. “Can’t your friends help out?”

“They can, but…” She glanced up at me from beneath her eyelashes several times. “They’re not like that.”

“I see.” I didn’t really see, but I figured that it would be rude to argue with her about it; she knew her friends better than I did, after all. In the back of my mind I considered that she may have talked with Misae as well.

So I found myself sighing again. I was becoming more like the dorm mother every day. “Fine. Let me know when you want to do this and…” I threw up my hands. “…just let me know.”

And yet another ball to juggle.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:  Help and Another Request**

I had some time to kill after school so I headed to the Reference Room to get a better idea of Yukine’s situation. If I was going to help reorganize the books, I needed some idea of how they were currently organized. I didn’t really have any ideas going in on how I would organize them, so my hope was that my getting a ‘feel’ for the room would help me figure out the best way to proceed.

The Reference Room door made a rough grating sound as I slid it open, and I made a mental note to look into the reason for the noise. I was surprised to find Yukine pacing the room; normally she would be sitting at the main table, reading. She stopped pacing and gave me her usual bright smile as I came in. “O-Okazaki-senpai…welcome.”

“Hey Miyazawa, I’m just here to take a look at the place. I have to…well, I have someplace to be in about an hour, but I thought I should get some idea of how things look right now.” I gestured to her. “You okay? It looked like you were pacing when I came in.”

She folded her hands, pressing them against her chest. “I-I’m okay, senpai. I…just have a lot on my mind.” She hurried over to the coffee maker, nearly knocking it over. “Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes, please,” I said. At least I think I did; I was already examining the contents of the bookshelves, after all. A minute or so later the pleasantly bitter smell of brewing coffee touched my nostrils.

I felt heat to my left, and looked to find Yukine there, holding a steaming mug. “Here you go, senpai.”

“Oh, thanks.” I accepted the mug and took a sip from it before using it to gesture toward the bookcase. “Are these organized in any way right now? I mean, it looks like they’re alphabetized by author, but…” I looked back to Yukine.

“I-I don’t know,” she replied while looking at the stacks of books. “I’ve just tried to keep them the way they were when I found them.”

“I see.” I took another sip from my mug. “This is really good, by the way. Sorry I didn’t say anything sooner; I was lost in thought, I guess.”

She giggled, bringing a smile to my face; she had a really cute laugh. “That’s okay; you can ignore me if it will help. I don’t want to be in the way unless you need me for something.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

I spent the rest of my time there examining the shelves and their contents. For her part Yukine kept herself busy with various other things, but I could feel her occasionally looking my way.

***

After they finished up with their respective club activities, I met up with the twins in my classroom.

“I think I see the problem,” I told Kyou as I pointed to part of a problem on her page. “You’re dividing by ‘root-2’ on this side, but it looks like you’re forgetting to do it to the other side.”

I watched, satisfied, as Kyou smacked herself in the forehead. “Aw, jeez! I know about that! Why was I forgetting?!”

“It’s okay, Onee-chan,” Fujibayashi said soothingly. “I made the same mistake. I think I was just nervous.”

“That can do it,” I said, trying to reassure them both. “Sometimes we miss the simple things because we’re focused on the harder ones…or the newer ones.”

“That’s true,” the younger twin agreed. “You’re so smart, Okazaki-kun.”

I raised my hands to ward off the praise. “Hey, you have no idea how much eraser I went through on the last test. I know I don’t,” I finished with a chuckle.

“Your paper looked really clean…not that I was looking!” Fujibayashi quickly said as I looked at her with what must have been a surprised expression. “I didn’t look at it! I just…happened to see…” she trailed off as she cast her gaze down to the tabletop.

“Anyway, thanks for the help,” Kyou said. “I’m gonna need to go through my assignments and the last couple of tests to see if this is what was killing my scores.” She looked around the room. “I’d…like it if we could meet somewhere else next time.” At my curious expression she added, “I just have a bad association with work and classrooms right now.”

“I see.” That made sense. “Okay, I’ll see if I can find someplace more…neutral?”

“Thank you, Okazaki-kun,” Fujibayashi said. “We don’t mean to sound ungrateful.”

“It’s fine,” I grunted as I looked around the room. “I’m not really fond of here, either. I’ll see what I can do.”

***

After finishing up with the twins I decided to pay Misae a visit. I hadn’t seen her for a while and I figured that it was time to call her out on her antics.

As I headed down the sidewalk toward the dorms, however, I saw a first-year running the opposite way. As she got closer I realized that she was heading for me.

“Okazaki-san?” she puffed as she stopped before me, and I noticed that one of her hands was bandaged up pretty heavily. “Are you Okazaki-san? Sagara-san said that if Fuuko found a strange-looking guy named Okazaki-san, he would-”

“He would help you, right?” I interrupted, if for no other reason than to keep her from saying ‘help me’. I was becoming painfully aware of that particular vulnerability of mine. “You said Sagara-san sent you?”

She nodded. “She said you were slightly perverted and a dependable guy.”

I flinched; I hated being called ‘perverted’ since it wasn’t true; sure, I had what I understood to be normal teenaged boy interests, but ever since falling for Misae… “I’m not so sure that she’s right about either. I know I’m not perverted, but I can understand why I might seem that way. As far as dependable…” I sighed heavily. “I’m not sure.”

“Oh.” She hung her head, and I started feeling more than a little guilty. “With the way Sagara-san talked about you Fuuko was sure you’d be able to help Fuuko…”

“GKK!!” I couldn’t stop her in time, and felt my eyebrow twitch. Even though she hadn’t specifically said ‘Help me’ the concept was enough. “T-Tell you what; why don’t we meet during lunch tomorrow and you tell me what’s going on, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Yaay!” she cried, jumping in celebration. “Thank you, Okazaki-san!”

I chuckled; she seemed like a good enough kid…for a first-year at least. “Don’t thank me yet; I’m not even sure I can help you.” It then hit me: “Hey, I don’t even know your name yet.” I assumed that ‘Fuuko’ was part of her name, but still…

She stopped her celebration and shoved something into my hands; it looked like a wooden star. “Fuuko! Fuuko’s name is Ibuki Fuuko!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Intensity**

Misae smiled when she opened the door and saw me. “Ah, Okazaki-san! It’s been a while! You must be very busy.”

I smiled at her obvious attempt at sarcasm. “Oh, you have no idea…actually, you have every idea!” I complained as she laughed. “May I come in?”

She narrowed her eyes at me, smile still in place, but stepped aside. “Come on in. Please don’t stay long, though; it’s late, and I need to get to bed before long.”

“Okay,” I acknowledged as I entered her room. Looking around, I saw that the place hadn’t changed much. But I guess that was hardly surprising, since it only seemed like it had been a long time; in reality it had only been a few days since my last visit. I turned to say something witty to her, but was stunned into silence when I saw her.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

I figured that to most people her appearance would be unremarkable. She had on her usual outfit; white shirt and blue jeans covered by her apron. Her hair was up as usual, but she must have been cleaning or doing something to exert herself, because some of her hair had stuck to her forehead.

She looked…she looked…I swallowed hard. “You…you look beautiful, Misae-san.”

Her look of utter disbelief was understandable as she drew some loose hairs over her delicate ear. “Are your eyes bad, Okazaki? I’m a mess! I just came back from sweeping and mopping the halls, and you’re telling me that?!”

I may have been in awe of her, but I still had my faculties. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.” I took a deliberate step closer to her. “You’re very beautiful, Misae-san,” I repeated.

She took a deliberate step away from me. “How can you say that when you go to school with so many cute girls, one of whom I know really likes you?”

“It’s simple,” I said. “You caught my eye first.” Noticing that she appeared to be trying to keep the table between us I said, “Don’t worry; I won’t do anything that would give you a reason to drop-kick me or anything. I’m not Sunohara,” I finished with a chuckle.

She stopped retreating. “No, you’re not,” she admitted. “But in some ways you’re even scarier than him.”

“I’m sorry, really.” I made my way around the table to stand before her. “Like I said, I won’t try anything funny.” I cautiously reached out and gently caressed her cheek with my fingertips. “I’ve already told you how I feel about you, and I don’t want to make you afraid of me or anything.”

I felt her shiver under my fingertips. “Please don’t touch me,” she said with a trembling voice.

I quickly removed my hand and took a step away from her. “I’m sorry, Misae-san. I didn’t mean to uh…to…uh…take liberties.” I moved to put the table between us again. “I will not touch you again without your permission. I didn’t mean to get into your space and make you uncomfortable.”

Her lips pursed and I could see moisture in her eyes. “Why are you so interested in an old woman like me?”

I sighed. Why did she think of herself that way? “I really wish you’d stop talking about yourself like that. You’re not ‘old’, you’re just older than me. And not even by that much. Anyway, I’m not interested in you because of your age; I’m interested because of who you are, remember? I didn’t fall in love with the Misae-san from back then-”

“I remember!” she cried as she held up a hand. “Just…stop. I don’t want to cry right before going to bed.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I guess I still have a lot to learn. I want to say one more thing before I go. Can I?”

She nodded wordlessly, and the lost expression on her face made me want to hold her.

“I’m in love with you, Sagara Misae. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again. So you can send all the pretty girls and their problems to me that you want. I’ll help them as much as I can but…” I said, raising a finger, “…once I’m done helping them, I’ll be coming back for you.” I winked at her. “I can be pretty stubborn, you know.” And without giving her a chance to respond I left her room.

When I figured I was safely out of sight of the dorm I finally let my legs buckle, and I collapsed to the ground. “Man, that was hard on my nerves!”

I slept really well that night.

***

“Let’s see, the library should be-ah, here it is,” I said as I stopped in front of the large double-doors that formed the entrance to the library.

I felt like I was forgetting something as I slid the door open and saw… “Oh…right.”

The girl with the hair ornaments sat where I remembered meeting her: next to the window, seated on a large cushion, surrounded by books. I smiled as the thought occurred to me that if the books were spikes, they would have made an excellent tank trap.

I greeted her with a ‘hello’ but, as expected, she didn’t answer. So I set about doing what I came to do: check the arrangement of the books to see if their system could be duplicated in the Reference Room.

I took down notes as I moved along the bookcases. “I see, so they’re organized by…category, I’ll call it; History, Art, Languages…” I poked myself in the forehead with my pencil eraser. “But how would I use this with Miyazawa’s stuff?” I sighed as I realized that I would have to take another look at the Reference Room’s books. “Oh well, at least I have some ideas about how to organize.” I turned to head to the exit. “Now I just need to-WHOA!”

‘Hair-Ornament Girl’ had somehow made her way behind me without me hearing her approach. When I yelled she jumped and looked behind her. Finding nothing, she turned back to me. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I gasped, with my hand on my chest. “You surprised me. Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Apparently not understanding what I was referring to, she angled her head at me like a puzzled puppy. “A-Are you hungry?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: The Ball Starts Rolling**

“Let us put our hands together.”

I did as I was told.

“Itadakimasu,” we said in unison before digging into the lunch she had brought.

“That’s a lot of food,” I commented. “Do you usually eat this much?” She was shapely, I noticed, but not particularly large.

She shook her head, causing her ornaments to wobble. “No. I brought this much just in case…in case…”

“’In case’ what?” I prompted.

“In case you came back.”

I did the rough math; I hadn’t been back in the library for about a month. “That’s amazing,” I said in awe. “Are you good with statistics or something? How did you know I would come back today?”

“I am good with statistics, but I did not know…” She suddenly blushed.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked, before it hit me; if she didn’t know when I’d be coming back, then she must have… “Have you been bringing this…every day…for the last month?!”

She nodded wordlessly.

“Wow…I had no idea…I’m sorry…” I thought of her, sitting in this room day after day, waiting to share her lunch with me. “I really had no idea you were waiting for me.”

“It is not your fault,” she said with a small smile.

Wanting to change the subject, I looked around the room for something else to talk about. Finding nothing my eyes settled back on her and…something seemed familiar about her, something I’d heard about in rumors…

Then it hit me: “Hey, that’s right; you’re the ‘Genius Girl’, aren’t you?”

“Huh?” was her only response.

Her reaction was fine, since I was trying to remember… “Ich…Ichinose-san! That’s your name, right?”

“Kotomi.”

“Huh?” was my only response this time.

She pointed to herself. “Kotomi. You spell it with three hiragana: Ko-To-Mi. When you talk to me, please call me Kotomi-chan.”

“Kotomi-chan?” What, did she skip elementary school and kept the name to make up for it? “Aren’t you a little old for ‘-chan’?”

She simply gave me a puzzled look, so I sighed with a wry smile. Honoring her preference wouldn’t hurt me at all, regardless of how silly it might sound. “All right, then,” I conceded. Then I pointed to myself. “Tomoya. You spell it with three hiragana: To-Mo-Ya. When you talk to me, please call me ‘Tomoya’.”

“Tomoya-kun?” she said, then her eyes suddenly widened.

“No, just Tomo-hey, are you okay?” I asked, suddenly concerned.

“Tomoya-kun.”

“No, just ‘Tomoya’ is fine.”

“Tomoya…kun.”

“Why the pause?”

“Tomoya-kun?”

“I said just ‘Tomoya’ is fine.”

“Tomoya-kun,” she said as though she had just made a major decision. Considering the way our interactions had gone so far, maybe it was.

***

I ran at top speed down the halls to get to where I had agreed to meet Fuuko. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to find her even though I ended up scolded by two teachers on the way.

“I’m sorry!” I gasped with my hands on my knees. “I forgot about our meeting even though I had it written down and memorized.” I took a deep breath. “I have a system for keeping track of stuff like this, so I don’t know how I could have forgotten!”

I kept my eyes down out of shame until I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder. “It’s okay, Okazaki-san; Fuuko understands.”

I gathered enough of my breath to straighten up, and her hand slid from my shoulder. “Thanks, Ibuki-san.” Huffing one last breath I asked, “So what do you need from me?”

Her expression turned indignant, and I had to suppress a chuckle at how cute it was. “First: Do you have something to say to Fuuko?”

“Huh? I already apologized for being late.”

She shook her head. “Not that.”

“So what is it? We don’t have a whole lot of time left of lunch, so-”

“This.” In her arms she cradled one of her wooden stars.

“What about it?”

She looked at me in disbelief. “Fuuko gave one to Okazaki-san as a gift, so…”

I got the implied message as I remembered where I had put the one she had given me. “Oh, I see. Thank you very much. Did you make it yourself?”

She nodded. “It was Fuuko’s very first starfish.”

I blinked. “Starfish, huh? I thought it was just a star.”

Fuuko looked offended, and I had to suppress another chuckle. “It’s clearly a starfish; Strange Guy just can’t tell the difference.”

“Of course,” I managed to say. “Ibuki-san, have you ever thought about why they’re called ‘starfish’?”

“Huh?” Impressive; I could even see the question marks over her head. “Starfish are starfish, aren’t they?”

“That’s true.” I then tried my best ‘senpai’ voice: “They’re called ‘starfish’ partly because they look like stars.”

I enjoyed the light of realization that shone from her face. “So that’s why Okazaki-san called it a wooden star!”

I nodded solemnly…or tried to, considering that I was trying not to burst into laughter. She was unique, that was for sure. “Right, but if you say it’s a starfish, then I’ll call it a starfish.” I smiled tenderly at her. “Anyway, thank you for the starfish. I’m not an expert, but it looks really well-made.”

She started blushing while looking at the floor. “Th-Thank you.”

“So…” I said, trying to get back on-topic, “…what did you need from me?”

She kept her head down but I still managed to understand her: “Fuuko wants to make seven-hundred of these and give them to all of the students.”

I picked my jaw up from the floor. “Seven…hundred? By hand?”

She nodded.

“What for?”

She fidgeted, still looking at the floor. “I want to invite everybody to celebrate Onee-san’s wedding.”

There was something that didn’t make sense, though: “Why the students? Is she a teacher here? I don’t know of any teachers named ‘Ibuki’.”

She shook her head. “Onee-san used to teach here, but she retired three years ago.”

I immediately saw a problem. “Three years ago? That means no one here will know who she is, and I don’t know that any of the students would go to the wedding of a stranger. Well, maybe a few…” I thought some more. “Wouldn’t you have any of your family coming? Your mom and dad?”

“Mom and Dad would come, yes,” she admitted. “But Fuuko won’t be able to be there.”

That was alarming. “Why not? Did your sister say you couldn’t go?”

She shook her head more vigorously than I’d seen so far. “No! Onee-san would love to have Fuuko there! But…” She seemed to hesitate. “…Onee-san can’t see Fuuko.”

“What do you mean?” This was starting to sound weirder and weirder. “Do your parents have a restraining order or something?”

She shook her head again before looking around. “Can Okazaki-san keep a secret?”

“Sure, if you need me to.”

I watched as she looked this way and that before grabbing my hand and leading me under a nearby stairwell. “Promise Okazaki-san won’t tell?”

I felt more than a little creeped out by the atmosphere. Was she going to do something weird to me? At least I was bigger than her, so I should’ve been able to get away if I needed to.

She lifted our still-clasped hands. “The reason Onee-san can’t see Fuuko is because…”

I yelped as my hand suddenly passed through hers; I could still see her hand, but it had suddenly become semi-transparent, like it had lost its substance.

“…Fuuko’s here but not here.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: The Beginning of a Dream**

My hands trembled as they tried to accept the mug from Yukine. It had been almost a day from the time Fuuko had explained her situation, and I was still feeling spooked by it.

“Spooked…” I mused.

“Are you okay, senpai?” I looked over to Yukine’s concerned expression. “You’ve been shaking and talking to yourself.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I’ll be okay, thanks. Oh, and thanks for the coffee.” I lifted the mug and sipped at my nerve medication. “It’s really good.”

“I’m glad you like it.” She spent a minute or so fidgeting in her seat before she spoke again. “Do you know how you’re going to organize the books?” I blinked, and she quickly waved her hands. “I’m not trying to hurry you, really!”

I sighed as I set down my mug. “I have an idea of how to do it, but I’m going to have to put this on the back burner for now. Sakagami-san still needs my help and, since hers is more…I think ‘time sensitive’ is the word…I’ll need to take care of her stuff first.” I hoped that my sheepishness showed on my face. “Sorry.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” she cooed. “I understand.”

I rubbed at an itch on my nose. “I don’t mean to make it sound like you’re not important, Miyazawa-san.”

“Yukine.”

“Huh?”

She fidgeted again. “I’d like you to call me ‘Yukine’, if you don’t mind. I think we’ve known each other long enough.”

“’Yukine’…” I repeated. “What a pretty name.” I then got to enjoy one of her blushes and felt a little sadistic so I leaned toward her. “Are you sure you want me calling you ‘Yukine’…Yukine?”

Her blush deepened. “Please stop teasing me,” she squeaked.

I couldn’t help myself; I laughed out loud. “I’m sorry, Miyazawa-san; I guess I can be a bit of a jerk sometimes.”

“I don’t think you’re a jerk,” she replied quietly. “I was just…uncomfortable.” Despite her blush she managed to straighten in her seat to look me in the eye. “Yes, I would like you to call me ‘Yukine’.”

“All right, Y-Yukine…” I usually had trouble using people’s first names due to my own awkwardness; calling a girl (other than Kyou) by first name…yeah.

She giggled; I think she was enjoying my discomfort. Oh well, I had it coming. “I like that.”

I leaned back and let my mind wander through my various situations: the twins’ academics, Nagisa’s Club problem… “That’s right; I still have to talk to her about that…”

“About what?” I heard Yukine say.

I retrieved my mug and sipped the cooling liquid. “Furukawa asked me to help her – for the second time, now that I think of it – with the Theater Club. I haven’t asked her about it yet; I’ve been so busy with the twins and you and Ibuki’s…” I trailed off as a thought drifted into my consciousness.

I abruptly leaned forward. “Yukine, would you be willing to help me with something?”

She blinked at me. “What is it?”

***

I stood at the front of the classroom with a wooden block in my hand. “So, here’s what we’re going to do,” I said to the assembled group of Fuuko and Yukine. “Ibuki-san here needs seven-hundred of these made to invite the student body to her sister’s wedding…hey, when is her wedding, anyway?”

Fuuko looked sheepishly at the desktop before her. “Onee-san hasn’t set a date, yet.”

My shoulder slumped. “Seriously? Did you come into this with no plan at all?”

To her credit, Fuuko looked like she wanted to sink into the desk. Considering my first experience with her, she probably could. “Fuuko’s sorry…”

“Okazaki-senpai,” Yukine chimed in, “please don’t be angry with her.”

“I’m not really angry…” I grumbled. “Maybe a little annoyed…”

“Okazaki-san?” I looked over to see Fuuko on her feet, fixing me with her gaze. “Fuuko realizes that Fuuko has been unfair to Okazaki-san. So…” she started wringing her hands. “…if Okazaki-san doesn’t want to help Fuuko anymore, then Fuuko will understand.”

I sighed. “Ibuki-san…I’ve made the commitment and I intend to follow through, it’s just…” I threw up my hands, nearly losing my grip on the block. “…I feel like I’m finding everything out at the last minute, and I can’t work like that.” I walked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder; thankfully, it didn’t’ pass through. “You can’t talk to you sister, then that’s just how it is. I guess I’ll just have to find a way to make it work.” I sighed again. “Please tell me that at least she has a boyfriend.”

Fuuko nodded excitedly. “Yoshino-san is sooooooo cool!”

Thank goodness; at least I had something to work with. “All right, then; I’ll just need to find some reason to talk to her and work my way around to it.” I chuckled lightly. “You’re really making me earn my paycheck, Ibuki-san.”

She bit her lip, and I could see tears welling in her eyes. “Fuuko’s sorry, Okazaki-san.”

“Oh, please don’t cry, Ibuki-san,” Yukine said as she offered a tissue. “Look as his face; can’t you tell that he’s looking forward to the challenge?”

“Don’t worry,” I said as I laid a hand on top of Fuuko’s head, again glad that it didn’t pass through. “We’ll get this done…you’ll see.”

Fuuko wiped her eyes and managed to look up at me with a small smile, which warmed my heart.

We spent the next hour scratching away at practice blocks, trying to duplicate Fuuko’s style of starfish. Well, Yukine and I tried; Fuuko was an expert and, by the time I had to leave, she had finished three starfish while I had one and Yukine’s looked about half-done.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Fuuko for the umpteenth time. “I guess I’m not very good at this yet.”

“It’s okay,” Fuuko offered reassuringly. “Fuuko’s grateful for your help.”

“Every little bit counts,” I added. “You and I are just going to have to get better at this.”

“You’re right,” Yukine replied with a giggle. “You’re so…so…”

“Weird?” Fuuko suggested, causing the two of us to laugh while she stood there, confused.

“Listen, Ibuki-san,” I said after things had calmed down.”I’m glad to help you with this, but…” I gestured to the two girls. “…I could really use your help with something else.”

Yukine smiled as she folded her hands, while Fuuko gave me another puzzled look.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Festival Prep**

“So…what are they doing here?”

I smiled at the student body president. “They’re my assistants.” I looked over at Fuuko and Yukine, who returned my smile. “I’m helping them with their…situations, so they’ve agreed to help me in return.”

Sakagami nodded, but her expression was unreadable as she looked at them. “Ah. I see.”

“So, where are you in the process?” I asked. “Where do I – or we – come in?”

She brushed a lock of silver over her ear. “Well, most of the clubs are taking care of their own booths, so as far as any construction it’ll be kinda here-and-there. What I needed you for,” she said while pointing at me, “is to help coordinate which club is supposed to be in what space.” She handed me a sheet of notebook paper. “That’s the general layout of the festival. It’s not to scale or anything; it just shows where displays are supposed to be…relative to each other.”

“I see,” I said as I studied the map. I pointed to one area. “You sure this is enough room for the Machine Club? They make some pretty big things, don’t they?”

“Not this year,” she replied smoothly. “They asked for this much because it’s what they said they’d need.”

“Okay,” I said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to step on any toes.”

She smiled. “It’s okay; at least I know your head’s in the game.” She looked over at my ‘assistants’. “I guess they could help you with coordination. I really don’t want them lifting anything heavy; they look a little too…fragile…for that sort of thing.”

“Ouch,” Yukine said while wincing, though she smiled as she did so.

“Fuuko’s strong,” my occasionally-intangible assistant protested.

Sakagami gave them a mildly amused look. “I appreciate that you want to help, but as Student Body President I feel responsible for the safety of all the students.” Her look softened just a little. “You can help Okazaki with coordination and I’ll use him when I need some heavy lifting done, okay?”

Both girls nodded; Yukine with a smile but Fuuko with a look of defiance.

“Calm down, Ibuki-san; this isn’t worth getting all worked up over,” I offered.

She glanced at me before returning her glare to Sakagami.

I sighed and deliberately put myself between the two of them, and she looked up at me. “Look, you didn’t even have to agree to help in the first place.” I smiled at the intensity of her expression. “Let’s take your persistence and find a good way to use it, okay?”

She gazed intensely for a few more moments, then her expression softened. “Okay, Okazaki-san; Fuuko will do it your way.”

I gave her a pat on the head before turning back to Sakagami. “Is there any particular area we should concentrate on?”

She shook her head. “No, but I’d like it if you’d start at the entrance to the school and make your way around, checking to make sure that the different groups are where they’re supposed to be, not in other groups’ spots…” she shrugged, “…things like that.”

“I assume you want me to help with construction if I come across a club that needs it?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’d be good. You should be able to measure off their spaces while you’re at it, which should help.”

“Got it,” I said, then turned to my assistants. “Well, let’s get started!”

***

“Ugh,” I groaned as I flopped down onto the grass and threw my arm over my eyes. It turned out that pretty much every group needed help, so I spent most of my time hammering, carrying, fitting, and just overall sweating to get everyone squared away. Tomoyo would have helped, but she got called away on some kind of Student Council business or something. She had apologized a bunch of times, saying that she’d return the first chance she got, but apparently her ‘first chance’ wasn’t until after all the work was basically done. I didn’t hold it against her, of course, but it was pretty inconvenient not having her there.

So I lay on the grass, feeling every muscle fiber in my body until a voice interrupted my ‘musings’: “Here.” I uncovered my eyes to see Tomoyo kneeling next to me, holding a water. “I’m sorry I was gone so long.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I accepted the bottle. “Thanks.”

“It’s the least I can do for everything you’ve done,” she said as I sat up and uncapped the bottle.

I snorted. “It’s not like I did much. The clubs did most of the work.”

She was quiet long enough to cause me to look over to find her looking at me with disbelief. “Are you serious, Tomoya? I talked to the heads of most of the clubs, and what they told me…” She shook her head. “Damn, Tomoya; you’re a monster.”

I snorted again. “I’m not a monster.” I rotated an arm. “If I were a monster I wouldn’t be so sore.”

“Where are your assistants?” she asked.

“Inside,” I said, jerking a thumb toward the school building. “Miyazawa-san started feeling faint so I had Ibuki-san take her inside to rest.” Noting Tomoyo’s amused expression I said, “Hey, don’t knock them; they were really helpful with the coordination part of things. For what it’s worth, I’d recommend them to the student council.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said dryly. “What about you? Are you okay? You said you’re sore.”

“Yeah…I’ll be all right,” I grunted. “A good night’s sleep should take care of this.”

“Where do you hurt?”

Something in her tone told me that I’d better answer. “Nothing major, just my biceps – GAH!” I cried as she took hold of my arm and started kneading. “Leggo Sakagami! I said I’m fine!”

“We need to work this out or you’ll be stiff for days,” she insisted. “Just hold still.”

I tried to pry my arm free, but that woman held me with something like a death grip. She finally let go and I was able to catch my breath, only for her to grab my other arm.

“You’re such a baby sometimes,” she scolded as she tortured my other arm.

After she released my other arm she sat back on her heels. “Anywhere else?”

“No!” My legs hurt, but I really didn’t want her ‘massaging’ them or I may not have been able to get back home.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Tomoya, I think you’re lying to me. I don’t like it when people lie to me.”

“And I don’t like it when people grab me without my permission!” I countered. “To be honest…my legs hurt, but please do not touch me.”

She looked taken aback. “Have I offended you in some way?”

I sighed. “Yes and no. You didn’t ask me if it was okay for you to…do what you did. I didn’t like that.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Stop hurting Okazaki-san!” I heard a voice cry out, and I turned to see Fuuko running toward us. Yukine followed her at a noticeably slower pace. When she got close enough Fuuko threw herself on me, putting herself between Tomoyo and me like some kind of shield. “Sakagami-san shouldn’t hurt people!”

I heard a gasp and looked up to see Tomoyo with a look of…horror? “I…I didn’t mean…OH NO!” She bolted to her feet and ran inside the school.

I quickly pried a protesting Fuuko off of me. “Wait here,” I told them before ordering my legs to follow Tomoyo. They complained, but complied…my legs, that is.

***

I found her in one of the school’s many hallways, thumping a wall with her fist while chanting ‘idiot’ over and over again.

“Sakagami…?” I called. “Why’d you run off like that?”

She looked at me, and her eyes widened. “No, get away! I don’t want to hurt you again!”

I leaned heavily against the wall and hobbled toward her on rebellious legs. “I’m fine, Sakagami. My arms actually feel a lot better thanks to you. It was just…intense while you were working on them.”

She still looked wary. “So…I didn’t hurt you?”

I shook my head with a smile. “You didn’t. It hurt, sure, but it’s more like…” I paused to think of a good analogy. “…it’s like when the doctor gives you a shot. The shot hurts, but it protects you from a bigger hurt later, right?”

She nodded wordlessly.

“So…please don’t run away again.” I started hobbling toward her again. “I don’t think I could catch up if you did.”

“Why are you troubling yourself like this?” she asked in a strained voice.

“Because,” I grunted, “you obviously need me to forgive you whether I think I need to or not, so here I am to forgive you.”

She took a hesitant step toward me and reached out. I smiled and took her hand. “I forgive you, Sakagami-san. I know you didn’t mean any harm.”

She said nothing but threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me and shaking. I also wrapped my arms around her, gently caressing the back of her head and saying every comforting thing I could think of.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: The Door to Where Wishes Come True**

“That sounds rough,” I said as the three of us sat in the grass and listened as Tomoyo told us her life story. Apparently she had come from a pretty violent background due to some family issues. Her parents had fought all the time, causing her to have problems with anger, so she’d go and take it out on the local lowlifes. Her brother had almost killed himself trying to keep their parents from divorcing, which seemed to unify the family again.

“They…Well, we…have a long way to go, but at least we’re doing it together,” she finished with a sigh.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” Yukine said sympathetically.

“Amazing, Sakagami-san,” Fuuko chimed in.

“Thanks.” Tomoyo appeared to be thinking about something as she leveled her gaze at me. “Listen, Tomoya…I really appreciate everything you’ve done…not just for the festival, but…you know…” She trailed off, and I figured she must have been referring to our private conversation.

I gave her a lopsided smile. “Hey, I’m just glad to help.”

“Well, you really have, so…if there’s anything I can help you with, just let me know.”

I thought for a moment…Tomoyo was hideously strong and I had some books that needed moving… “Sakagami-san, I think I know how you can help me.” I looked over at Yukine, who gave me a shy smile. “But I’ll hold off on calling you on that favor until after the Festival, okay?”

She blinked. “Um, sure. Just let me know.”

***

“Oh, Okazaki-san!”

I smiled and turned to see Furukawa hustling toward me as I passed through the school gates. “There you are, Furukawa. You’re just the girl I wanted to see.”

She stopped short, fisting her hands under her chin as she blushed. “Y-You wanted to see me?”

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about your situation.” What was the blush all about?

“Eh? Oh, yes!” She placed her hand on her chest and giggled awkwardly.

“So…” I prompted, “…what do you need from me?”

“Well…that is…” One of the things I liked about Furukawa was her shyness; from anyone else, especially Kyou, it would look forced. But from Furukawa… “I’m having trouble recruiting new members. I guess I’m just not…not…”

“Assertive enough?” I suggested.

“Huh?” She looked up at me and blinked. “Um…yeah. I like talking to people, but when it comes to asking them for things…”

“You’re not assertive enough,” I repeated. “All right, I think I get the idea.”

“So you’ll help me?” Furukawa was almost in my face, with a hopeful look in her eyes.

“I already promised you that I would,” I said. “I’ve just been caught up in a lot of things…sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she said, clearly trying to comfort me. “I know you’re helping a lot of people. I’m just happy that you’re willing to take the time for someone like me.”

That was an interesting choice of words. “What do you mean, ‘someone like me’?”

She shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Well…I’m not very popular…I’m not interesting…not very pretty-”

“Stop right there!” I wasn’t about to let her get away with talking about herself like that. “I’ll admit that I don’t know enough about you to talk about how popular or interesting you are, but not pretty? Are you serious?” I took a step back and examined her the best I could. “You’re a real cutie, Furukawa.”

“Eep!” she quickly covered her face with her hands. “I-I’m not cute!” her muffled voice insisted.

“No, you’re not getting away with that,” I decided. “You’re cute, Furukawa, and you’ll just have to deal with it.”

“R-Really?” She asked, peeking between her fingers. At least she was open to the idea. “B-B-But I’m not interesting or popular.”

I snorted. “Well that could easily be explained by your shyness.” I gestured to her. “If people don’t get the chance to know you, they’ll never find out what kind of girl you are.” I crossed my arms. “And even if I could get a whole bunch of people to join your club, it’s still your club so you’d need to be the one to keep them interested, right?”

“I guess,” she conceded as she uncovered her face.

I looked her up and down one more time. “I think we’ll need to attack this in two ways: One, we’ll need to let everyone know about the Theater Club somehow and Two, we’ll need to make you into the kind of person who could lead the Theater Club.”

Her hand flew to her chest as she paled. “Y-You can’t be serious!”

“Well, who else is going to lead it? What, are you waiting for someone else to show up and take care of everything for you?” I pointed at her. “If this is important enough to you, you’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen, right? I mean, anything that’s legal and stuff…right?”

Her gaze fell to the ground. “I guess…”

I sighed heavily. She was a nice enough girl, but she was starting to try my patience. “Look Furukawa, I’m not going to carry this for you. How old are you, anyway? You’re not a child anymore.”

“Eighteen.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“I’m eighteen years old.”

I did the crude math. “Shouldn’t you have graduated last year?”

“I was sick.”

“That must have been one hell of a bug,” I mused.

“I…have a weak body,” she explained. “Every once in a while I’ll develop a fever for no reason, and I’ll be in bed for weeks.”

I was starting to get the picture. “So you missed so many days last year that you couldn’t graduate?”

A nod.

“Damn.” This was going to complicate things. “I’m sorry; I didn’t know. But I still think that if you want to do this then you need to be willing to do most of the work.”

“Okay.”

“Do you have anything in mind for a performance?”

“Yeah.” She lifted her gaze to mine, and I was shocked by the level of intensity that I saw. “It’s about a dream that I had once.”

Good; at least she had a plan of sorts. “Well, how many people would you need for this?”

“Just one.”

I blinked. “One?” I started scratching my cheek as the gears started turning. “That…That could work out…”

“What could?”

A smile worked its way across my face as I grabbed her hand. “C’mon; let’s get something to eat and I’ll tell you what I’m thinking.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Founder’s Festival**

I looked around in awe at the crowd in attendance at the Founder’s Festival. I had never been to one before, so the experience was completely new to me. “Amazing…”

“Hey!” a familiar voice greeted, and I turned to see Tomoyo walking up to me with a huge smile. “Glad you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” I said. I was telling the truth, of course; after all the work I had put into coordinating and building the displays, I really wanted to see people benefitting from the fruits of my labor.

Her smile softened. “Do you think…I mean…could we walk together for a while? We’ve been so busy that we haven’t had much time to talk.”

I felt a smile spread across my face. “Sure. That sounds fine.”

The stalls looked so different than when I had helped with setup; all the students working in them, the supplies, the decorations…

“Hey Okazaki!” I turned to see a guy in the Machine Club waving at us, so we headed over.

“What’s up?” I asked. “Everything holding together okay?”

“Yeah, it’s holding together great.” He seemed to be enjoying himself. “The booth is really solid. Hey, you should join the Machine Club! You really seem to know your way around this kind of thing.”

I held up my hands. “I’m not that good, but thanks. I’ll keep your offer in mind, but I have a lot on my plate right now.”

“Cool,” he replied. “Well, you know where the Club meets, so if you change your mind…”

“I know where to find you,” I finished, and we both laughed.

“Okazaki…” Tomoyo prompted.

“Right! I’m sorry, Sakagami-san.” I put my hands together in apology. “Where did you want to go?”

Her response was to take me by the hand and nearly drag me through the crowd to a booth where ice cream was being sold. “You can treat me to this to make up for putting me through that,” she huffed.

“Fine, fine,” I said as I pulled out my wallet. “The sky’s the limit, as long as the sky is five-hundred yen.”

She gave me a withering look, but it didn’t last long as it broke into a smile and a chuckle. “Okay, Okazaki. Thank you.”

She ordered a chocolate-vanilla swirl while I ordered straight chocolate. Then we miraculously found a bench and sat down to eat.

“How’re the council members doing? The ones who were sick, I mean,” I asked between bites.

She had to swallow a bite before answering. “Better. They’re here today, actually.” She put on what was clearly a fake glower. “I’m putting them on double-duty for being sick. In fact…” She directed our gaze to a nearby bear mascot. The costume looked uncomfortably warm. “If Ichigo wasn’t here, I’d have to wear that.”

“You’re taking the day off in a sense, then?”

She nodded through another bite of ice cream. “Normally I’d take all the responsibility. But since I had to do double-duty and get outside help…” She gave a sly smile as I realized the implications.

“Sakagami-san, have you considered a career in politics?” I joked.

She almost laughed with a mouthful of ice cream, nearly losing it. “No, but maybe I should,” she replied when she was finally able to. “By the way…”

Her pause seemed a little on the long side, so I helped her out. “Yeah? ‘By the way’ what?”

“Call me Tomoyo.”

“Wait a minute; you want me to call you by your first name?”

“Yeah. ‘Tomoyo’ is my first name, so yeah.” She drew a lock of hair over her ear; I found something charming about the motion. “You’ve done a lot for me, and I feel like I can trust you, so…I mean, if you don’t want to then that’s-”

“No no,” I interrupted. “It’s fine. You just…surprised me. It was kinda out-of-the-blue, you know?”

“I’ll understand if you don’t want to…”

“Like I said; it’s fine. Just give me some time to get used to the idea, okay?” I sighed heavily; if she trusted me that much, then… “In the meantime, why don’t you go ahead and call me by my first name.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

I simply nodded, since I had filled my mouth with ice cream.

She shifted uncomfortably. “I…I suppose…if you say so, then…Tomoya.”

I gave her a smile in response.

She suddenly looked very uncomfortable. “I-I’m sorry, I have to go.” With that she quickly got up and hurried toward the school. I tried to follow her, but I still had a dripping cone in my hand. How she finished hers so quickly I’d ever know. Maybe she’d thrown the rest of it away without me noticing.

In any case, I stuffed what remained of my ice cream into my mouth and started to head for the building myself, only to be distracted by a sizable group near the school entrance. I couldn’t remember putting a display there, so I went to check it out.

It turned out to be Furukawa, and I smiled to myself. “So, she went ahead and did it…good for her.”

She stood in the center of a group of people wearing the costume she had told me about. It flowed to her ankles and looked like a priestess’ robe, except that hers was mostly blue with a white collar that had a brown stripe that ran all the way around it. It looked really good on her. I was too far away to understand what she was saying just then, but I had read the script so I knew roughly what she was saying. With the way she would gesture and the expressions on her face…she was in ‘the zone’.

I smiled as I turned to leave to try to find Tomoyo, but I then saw a familiar figure out of the corner of my eye. I smiled as I walked up to… “Hey, Misae-san! Enjoying the festival?”

For some reason, she was dressed in her usual getup instead of something more…outdoorsy? “Ah, Okazaki-san.” She brushed her bangs from her eyes and my heart skipped a beat. “Have you seen my cat? I noticed him missing from my room this morning, and I can’t shake the feeling that he’s here.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, I haven’t seen him, but I’ve been busy so I may have just missed him.” Figuring that I’d never catch up with Tomoyo at this point I said, “I’ll help you look for him.”

She looked at me in disbelief. “You think you’re going to find him in this chaos?”

“I probably have a better chance than you at this point,” I countered.

Her disbelief faded to resignation. “Thank you.”

“Let’s see,” I said as my gears started turning again. “If he spends most of his time indoors he’s probably not going to be outside because of the noise and all the people.”

“R-Right,” she replied, and I could feel her gaze on the side of my face.

I came to a conclusion. “We should start in the old building since it’s farther away from the noise and people.”

“O-Okay.”

I looked over at her confused expression. “Well, I could have us split up and each check building, but if I find him first, he could move before I find you and bring you to him. I don’t think he’d let me carry him.”

She grimaced. “Hm, you have a point. Let’s check the old building first, then.”

The sounds of the festival faded as we made our way to the old school building.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Lost & Found**

“Nope, not here.” I sighed as I left the classroom to find Misae with a forlorn look. “Don’t worry, Misae-san; we’ve only looked in about half of the rooms. If he’s here, I’m sure we’ll find him.”

She chuckled, though her laugh didn’t match her expression. “That’s cat’s always wandering off. I don’t know why I bother to keep looking for him.”

“Well, he must mean something to you, if you’re willing to look for him over and over again,” I said. “From what I’ve seen, you two are inseparable.”

“Eh, whatever.”

We finally found him, dozing in one of the upper-story classrooms. When he heard her voice he rose from his spot by the window and made his way over to jump into her arms.

“What are you doing here at the school?” she gently scolded. “Aren’t there too many people for you?”

_“I wanted to go to the festival with you.”_

My eyes widened. Did the cat just speak? “Misae-san, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” she asked, giving me a puzzled look.

I pointed to the tabby in her arms. “He just said that he wanted to go to the festival with you.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “That’s not funny, Okazaki.”

_“But it’s true.”_

“But it’s true,” I repeated. “That’s…that’s what he just said. Wait…you’re not hearing it?”

Misae gave me a worried look. “Did you hit your head somewhere?” She walked over to me and started feeling my head with her free hand.

“Your favorite pajamas are the light-blue ones with white bunny faces, but you hide them under your dresser because you’re ashamed of them,” I found myself repeating as I felt my face heat up.

The hand froze. “How…how did you know that?”

I gestured to the cat again. “He told me. Look, I’m having a hard time believing this myself, but…” I figured it was time to spill everything. “…back in high school you had a crush on a guy called Igarashi or something like that. You waited by the gate day after day to talk to him. At some point Shima showed up and messed up your attempts to get closer to him. You choked him a few times and he told you that he had a light in a box that would grant you any wish you wanted. Igarashi asked him to tell you that he already had a girlfriend, but he had a hard time telling you because he knew it would hurt your feelings.”

Her eyes widened as I spoke.

“You kept blowing him off, but he persisted until…until…” I hated this part, “…until you fell in love with him. And he fell in love with you.” I gestured to the cat again. “This is ‘Shima’, Misae-san; somehow he was able to become a human long enough to grant his owner’s wish; to repay you for the kindness you showed him before.”

Misae’s face had long since paled. “H-How do you know all of this?”

I sighed. “Remember when I stopped by that one time and you ended up…well, crying?”

She nodded, slowly.

“Well, I had a dream that night. In that dream, I saw all of this…from the cat’s…from Shima’s…? Through his eyes,” I finished. “It was like he was sharing his memories with me or something.”

She stared at me for a long time, her shoulders tense. “You know Okazaki-san, if it were anyone else telling me this I would suplex them through the planet.”

I took the precaution of bracing myself.

I was relieved when her shoulders slumped. “But…I believe you. There’s no way you could have known even half of that.” She looked down at the cat. “He’s never talked to me like that, ever.”

“I don’t get it myself,” I admitted. “I mean, why tell me? You were the one he made the promise to; he could’ve just told you.”

She held the cat more closely, and he purred contentedly. “I don’t know, Okazaki; maybe I wouldn’t have believed it if he had. Maybe I would have thought that it was wishful thinking. Maybe I had to see the impossible to accept it.”

I nodded, not trusting my words just then.

She smiled softly at me as she snuggled the cat. “Thank you, Okazaki. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

My smile was probably as soft as hers. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I could help.” I made a show of rubbing my hands together. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, it sounds like I’m interrupting your date.”

She laughed throatily, and I could feel my chest tightening. “I’m not going on a date with a cat. But…if you’re free, I’d like someone to show me around the festival.”

Did she…? Did she just ask me on a date?! “Um…I’m not much of a guide, but…I’ll do my best. What about him?” I asked, nodding at the cat in her arms. “Will he be okay with the crowds?”

“Him? Well, why don’t you ask him?” she said with a light teasing tone.

I hadn’t thought of that, but it was worth a try. I bent down just enough to meet his eyes. “You up to walking through the festival with us?”

***

Apparently he was.

“This is sooo good!” Misae exclaimed as she munched on takoyaki.

To my surprise, ‘the cat’ had decided that he wanted me to carry him. I had no problem with carrying a cat in a crowd like this; it could get lost pretty easily otherwise. But…I kinda saw him as a rival. I knew it was silly to think that way, but… “I’m glad you like it. I’m sorry I couldn’t afford more, but I’d already bought ice cream for Sakagami. If I’d known you were coming-”

“Ah, the student body president, eh?” She gave me a sly smile. “And how are you two getting along?”

“We’re getting along okay,” I answered honestly. I had a feeling she was trying to tease me, but I wasn’t going to bite. “She seemed really grateful for my help with setting up the festival.”

She didn’t respond, and I looked over to see her staring at her food as we walked. “Okazaki?” she asked she suddenly stopped. She looked around briefly before pointing to a tree just outside the festival grounds. “Could we talk over there for a minute? I need to tell you something.”

Holy crap! Was this going to be a confession? Wait, she wasn’t in high-school anymore, so things wouldn’t work like that…would they? “Uh, sure. Lead the way.”

When we reached the tree she placed her meal on a nearby table, reached out, and the cat jumped from my arms into hers. She snuggled him for a bit before she spoke: “Listen…I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you, sending all those girls.” She brushed a lock of hair from her forehead with her free hand. “You already have so much going on with prepping for tests…and I know you’re trying to get caught up, too, that…” She hung her head. “I’m really sorry. Will you forgive me?”

“Misae-san…” Her apology caught me by surprise, but I knew how I wanted to answer. “…thank you.”

Her head snapped up with a look of surprise. “Huh?”

I smiled lightly. “All of this gave me a chance to get outside myself, to learn more about who I am and what I can do.” I had to look away for my next statement: “I’ll admit that I was trying to do all of it at first to impress you, but I...it…kinda got away from me.” I shrugged. “My…focus…changed from trying to impress a pretty girl to finding out who I am, so…thank you. And I forgive you, but only ‘cause you asked me to; I don’t think you need to be forgiven. I asked for it, after all.”

Something in the way she looked at me changed. I didn’t know what it was exactly, but I was pretty sure that she was seeing me differently. I hoped it was for the better. “Thank you, Okazaki-san. Oh, and you’re welcome,” she said, and we shared a chuckle. “I’d…like to get back to the festival…if that’s okay.”

“Okay,” I acknowledged with a smile.

“Oh, and Okazaki-san?” she asked, stopping once again.

“Yes?”

“Call me ‘Misae’ from now on, okay?” Then, without waiting for an answer, she turned and hurried back to the crowd, with the cat watching me over her shoulder.

I felt my smile broaden and my heart warmed as I picked up her forgotten meal. “Okay.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Ref Room Wreck**

A few days after the end of the founder’s Festival, Tomoyo joined Yukine, Fuuko, and me in the Reference Room.

“Woooow, Sakagami-san,” Fuuko breathed as Tomoyo heaved an impossible large stack of books. “That’s a lot of books!”

“Where do you want these?” Tomoyo grunted under the weight.

“Just on this table for now,” I said, pointing at a nearby table. “I wish you’d waited until I told you the plan.”

She unloaded on the main table. “What can I say? I like getting stuff done.”

“Well, hold off on getting any more books for now,” I ordered. After everyone gathered around the main table I laid out the plan. “First of all, I don’t expect this to be done in a day, okay? As much as I hate it, we’ll have to empty the shelves and organize them as we re-shelve them.”

“Why do you hate it?” asked Yukine. “It sounds like a great plan.”

“Because this room will probably be a mess for a few days, and I hate that. I’d even considered just moving the books between bookcases, but that would present too many problems.”

“Like mixing up the organized books with the unorganized ones?” Tomoyo offered.

“Exactly,” I confirmed. “So in the end I figured it’d be best to just pull everything, put it on the case where it belongs and then organize it from there.”

“That makes sense,” Fuuko said.

“Most of it’s manga, so that makes it a little easier; we just organize them by genre,” I explained. “Shoujo, shounen, seinen...”

“Hentai!” Yukine chirped as she held up a manga with an…interesting cover.

“That should not be on school grounds!” Tomoyo protested, and tried to take the book from Yukine.

“Not now, Tomoyo,” I said. “We can worry about censoring stuff later. If we try to filter as we go, this could end up being a two-year project.”

Tomoyo huffed and puffed, but relented. “Okay, Tomoya; we’ll do it your way.” Apparently she had recovered from whatever had bothered her at the Founder’s Festival

I handed Yukine the ‘map’ for the Reference Room. “This’ll be kinda like the Festival Map,” I explained. “After we unload the bookcases we’ll need you to tell us where the books go.”

She gave me a puzzled look. “Don’t you have this memorized?”

I nodded. “Well yeah, but I’m going to be busy carrying books, so I’ll need you to help coordinate the work.”

She gave me a jaunty salute. “You can count on me!”

“What about Fuuko?”

I turned to my short brown-haired friend and smiled. “This’ll be your chance to show us how strong you are; you’ll be carrying books, too.”

She glanced over at Yukine before saluting me as well. “Okazaki-san can count on Fuuko!”

“’Me’,” I corrected. “’You can count on me’.” I waved my hands. “Sorry, I’m letting myself get distracted. Well, let’s get started!”

***

“Here,” I said as I offered a water to Tomoyo, who lay on the Reference Room floor. “I told you not to overdo yourself.”

“I wanted to get the whole thing done today,” she complained as she accepted the bottle and uncapped it.

Laying next to her was Fuuko, her limbs splayed out every which way. “Fuuko worked hard…”

“Yeah, you did,” I said. “Thank you very much.” I looked around the room at the chaos we had created; books were everywhere but on the shelves. Tomoyo, Fuuko and I had cleared every last book from them, putting them wherever we could find room; once the tables had been filled we started stacking them on the floor. It looked like an earthquake had hit the place.

I heard a giggle, and looked over to see Yukine with her hand over her mouth. “I guess I won’t be serving coffee for a while.”

“That’s not going to work,” I quipped with a smile. “We’ll make clearing the meal table a priority.”

She giggled again, and I suddenly saw her in an apron, with a pan in her hand and two little kids fighting for her attention. I blinked and the image vanished. “Well, I guess we know what motivates you, senpai,” I heard her say.

I chuckled a bit lamely, unnerved by what I had just seen. It seemed so real… “Yeah…you got me there, Yukine.”

Another groan from the floor brought my attention back to Fuuko. Remembering her situation I said, “We’ll be getting back to carving your starfish soon. Is that okay?”

She nodded weakly. “We’ll carve lots of starfish.”

“Starfish?” Tomoyo asked, sitting up. “What for?”

Fuuko didn’t look like she could answer so I took care of it: “The three of us have been carving starfish to use as invitations to her sister’s wedding.”

A smile broke out on Tomoyo’s face. “Really? When is it?”

“We don’t know just yet, but…how do I explain it…? We’d like people to know in advance so they can prepare if they need to.”

She took on an expression of doubt. “You don’t need to carve anything for that, do you? Just send out cards or something like that.”

I looked over to Fuuko’s intense look. “That’s…true,” I conceded, “but it’s not the same as having someone give something to you.”

“The personal touch,” Yukine chimed in.

“That makes sense,” Tomoyo said. “Okay Ibuki-san, count me in.”

“Huh?” Fuuko sat up with a puzzled look.

Tomoyo drew her hair over her ear. “I like your spirit. I’ll help you with the starfish and come to your sister’s wedding.”

Fuuko looked at Tomoyo, at me, back at Tomoyo, then threw her arms around her neck. “Thank you, Sakagami-san! Thank you! Fuuko hasn’t been this happy in a long time!”

Tomoyo gave me an amused look as she held the excited first-year. “She really does need to work on her pronouns, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, she does,” I agreed. Then, inspiration hit me: “And I know just who should teach her.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Eleven: Study Buddies**

We met up with the twins in the library. After doing some scouting I realized that the library would be the best place for tutoring, both for the twins but also for…

“Are you serious?” Kyou crossed her arms as she and Fujibayashi looked at the four of us; Kyou with what looked like contempt, Fujibayashi with curiosity. Behind them, in her usual spot by the window, Kotomi also watched with curiosity.

“Absolutely,” I said. “Your language skills are the best I know of.”

“It could be fun,” Fujibayashi observed.

“And why would I want to help her?” Kyou growled, thrusting a finger at Tomoyo, who leaned back with wide eyes.

I shook my head. “She doesn’t need your help, just Ibuki-san.”

Kyou’s defiance remained.

“Okay Kyou, if that’s how you want to play…” Part of me was going to enjoy this. “How are your math scores doing?”

Fujibayashi giggled as Kyou sputtered, and I figured that they both realized where I was going with this. “They’re fine,” she finally managed to say.

“Onee-chan, are you really going to be like this?” Fujibayashi asked before moving in front of my friend. “Ibuki-chan, is it?”

Fuuko nodded with her usual intense expression.

Fujibayashi giggled at the younger girl’s intensity. “My name is Fujibayashi Ryou, and I would be happy to help you in any way I can.”

“Pronouns,” I said.

“Eh?” Fujibayashi gave me a puzzled look.

“She really needs help with pronouns,” I clarified. “For whatever reason, she’s always speaking in the…the, uh…”

“Third-person?” Yukine offered.

“Sort of.” I shrugged. “I’ve never even heard her use third-person pronouns; she always uses proper names for some reason.”

“I see.” Fujibayashi seemed to mull this over as she studied Fuuko. “Well, I can teach her how to use them properly, but if she’s not comfortable using them there’s not much I can do about that.”

“Well, just do your best then,” I said. “I really appreciate this, Fujibayashi. I’d help her myself, but I’m already carving starfish, organizing the Reference Room…”

She broke out in a smile as she held up a hand. “I get the idea, Okazaki-kun. What will you be doing?”

“Well, I’ll be-”

“I will help, too.” Kotomi had suddenly materialized next to me. “Tomoya-kun, I would like to help.”

It took me a moment to recover from the shock of her sudden appearance. How had she moved so quickly? “Um, thanks. How did-well, whatever. How do you want to help?”

She took a step closer, and I could practically feel her breath on my face. “Well…if you are having trouble with English, I can help you with that. If you are having trouble with math, I can help with that, too. If you are having trouble with-”

“Hold on a minute,” I interrupted. “My math is fine. I helped them with their math a little while ago,” I said, jerking a thumb toward the twins.

Kotomi’s eyes widened as she clasped her hands in front of her chest. “Really? You are so smart, Tomoya-kun!”

I heard Kyou snort, so I sent a glare her way before returning my attention to Kotomi. “Thank you, Kotomi-chan.  I’m not the reason we’re here, though; they are.” I gestured to the twins and Fuuko again. “We were having problems in the classroom, so I thought here would be better.” I grimaced at a realization. “But this is kinda your place, isn’t it? Would it be okay for us to study here? I don’t think we’ll be noisy; I know this is a library, after all,” I finished with what I hoped was a disarming smile.

“Will you be coming?” she asked.

I blinked. “Well, yeah…I’m their tutor, after all.”

Kotomi gasped so deeply that I was afraid she’d pass out. “So…you will be here…every day?”

I thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Pretty much. Not every day, but close enough.”

She stepped toward me again, this time so quickly and so closely that I had to take a step back. “I will help you in any way I can!”

“Okay! Okay! Thank you, Kotomi-chan! A little breathing room, please!” I held up my hands to put some kind of barrier between us; at the rate she was going she’d be inside my shirt. “I don’t know how much you’ll be needed, since none of us are at your level. But I’d feel better having someone smarter than me around to make sure I don’t give bad information.”

She stepped back, her hands still folded in front of her. “I will help you in any way I can.”

Just like that, we had a study group.

***

It turned out that Kotomi wasn’t a very good tutor. She knew her stuff – the tests were proof of that – but apparently she didn’t have the ability to share her knowledge with others. She didn’t seem to have any problem when it came to tutoring me, though.

“…and that is how you find the apex of the curve,” she finished explaining to me.

“Okay, I think I get it; change from ‘y-intercept’ to ‘standard’ and take these two values, right?” I asked as I pointed at two numbers in the equation.

“Right!” she chirped, nearly in my ear. She was sitting a lot closer than necessary…

…and closer than I was comfortable with. “Could I have a little more space, Kotomi-chan?”

I could smell peppermint when she answered. “Is there a problem, Tomoya-kun?”

I leaned back and looked down at our legs. “Other than you’re almost in my lap?”

“’Almost’?” she repeated. Then she blushed. “Oh! Do you want me to sit in your lap?”

“NO!” I blurted. “I said-”

“Are you going to teach us,” I heard Kyou’s voice growl, “or are you going to sit there and flirt with Genius Girl?!”

“Oh! Right” I didn’t like Kyou’s accusatory words, but she did give me a way out. “’Scuse me, Kotomi-chan; gotta teach them what you taught me. Thank you!” I hustled over to the twins. “Thanks for the save, Kyou.”

“You’re welcome,” she grumbled while Fujibayashi giggled. “Why does she have to be here, anyway?”

“Well, it’s kinda her space,” I said as I scratched my cheek. “She doesn’t have to go to class except to satisfy the attendance requirement, so she mostly stays here and reads and teaches herself. Besides, she’s probably smarter than all of us combined.”

Kyou grumbled to herself but didn’t try to argue the point, and we spent the rest of the afternoon working on math, English, and Fuuko’s grammar.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: Mass Production**

_Scratch scratch…_

_Scratch scratch…_

I gave my wooden creation one more examination. “Another one done!” I announced.

I heard the sudden ‘squeak’ of a chair, and then: “Dammit Tomoya, you startled me!”

“Sorry, Kyou,” I said as I turned to the offended party. “I’m just glad I’m finished with this one.”

“Yeah, goody for you,” she grumbled. Her sister sat next to her, focused completely on her block if her expression was any indicator.

“Tomoya-kun, why am I doing this?”

I redirected my gaze to Kotomi, who sat in her chair with a partly-carved block and a puzzled expression. “You said you’d help me with anything, didn’t you?”

She nodded, causing her ornaments to bobble. “I did agree, but…what are all of these wooden stars for?”

“Starfish,” Fuuko absently corrected as she scratched at her carving.

“Huh?”

Fuuko got up from her seat and took a finished carving over to her. “It’s clearly a starfish.”

Kotomi was clearly distressed as she looked from the starfish-wielding girl to me and back. “I-I-”

“It’s okay, Kotomi-chan,” I said reassuringly. “Ibuki-san, do you remember how I was confused about what that was? “ I asked as I pointed to the carving in her hands.

“Of course, Okazaki-san. It was an honest mistake,” she replied firmly. “Starfish look like stars, after all.”

“Is it possible that Kotomi-chan’s making the same mistake?”

I waited, but it didn’t take long for the look of realization to appear on Fuuko’s face. “Of course!” she cried as she smacked herself on the forehead. “If someone as smart as Okazaki-san could make that mistake, then so could Ichinose-san!”

I snorted at her conclusion. “Well, Kotomi-chan’s actually smarter than me. A lot smarter, in fact.” I leaned toward Fuuko with a playful smile. “She’s so smart that if she calls your starfish ‘stars’, they might actually turn into stars.”

I had just enough time to realize my mistake as tears quickly formed in the small girl’s eyes as she whirled on Kotomi. “Please don’t call them ‘stars’ anymore! Fuuko doesn’t want them to turn into stars!”

Kotomi was nearly in tears herself. “I-I-I would not do that to you! Your starfish are wonderful!”

“Cleanup on Aisle Two,” Kyou chided.

“Yes, yes, shut up,” I retorted. “Kotomi-chan, Ibuki-san, I’m sorry; I was kidding. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” I looked into two teary faces and shoved aside the ridiculousness of the whole situation. “I’m sorry, Ibuki-san; I thought you would get the joke.”

Fuuko quickly rubbed at her eyes with her sleeve before returning her usual intense gaze to me. “Fuuko’s-I mean, I’m fine.” She cringed. “I…I forgive you!”

I smiled, not just from being forgiven, but because she had overcome her disgust with pronouns, if only a little. “Thank you, Ibuki-san – whoa, what’s with that look now?”

She had somehow dialed up her intensity a notch. “You call Ichinose-san ‘Kotomi-chan’ and Fujibayashi-san ‘Kyou’; why do you call me ‘Ibuki-san’?”

“W-Well…” Her question was somewhat out-of-the-blue and had caught me off-guard. “…Kotomi-chan won’t let me call her anything else, and Kyou and I have been friends for at least a year.”

“Why don’t you call me ‘Fuuko’?”

“F-Fu…” I could see that she was really passionate about this. “I guess…because you’ve never asked me to.”

“I see.” She looked down at the floor for a moment and, with everyone watching she looked up at me and asked. “Will you call me ‘Fuuko’ from now on?”

“Well…I can, I guess.” I decided to test it out. “Are you sure you want me calling you ‘Fuuko’?”

Her face reddened so quickly that I thought she’d catch on fire. “M-M-Maybe not yet. Maybe tomorrow.” She nodded, apparently to herself. “Yeah, tomorrow.”

“Okay, tomorrow then,” I agreed. Satisfied that another disaster had been averted, I sat back at my desk and worked on my starfish, and it wasn’t long before I heard the others scratching away at their blocks again.

***

“I’m calling it quits for today,” Kyou said as she stretched in her seat, her long hair forming a purple curtain behind the back of her chair.

“Me too,” Tomoyo agreed. “I need to get home to make dinner.”

“All right. Thanks for your hard work,” I said as I rubbed at my sore hand. I hadn’t worked my wrists this hard since my time in basketball. “Maybe we should all call it a day.”

“I’m fine,” Fuuko said.

I laid a hand on her head. “Then go ahead and keep going. Just don’t work yourself until you injure yourself, or you won’t be able to finish the job, okay?”

She looked up at me with my hand still on her head and blushed. “O-Okay Okazaki-san; I’ll be careful.”

That reminded me: “Oh yeah, about that; you can call me ‘Tomoya’ from now on…if you want to, I mean.”

Her blush spread almost to her hairline…what I could see of it, at least. “T-T-Tomoya…?”

I smiled at her efforts. “Good job.”

She didn’t return my smile, but quickly grabbed her things. “M-Maybe Fuuko should…I mean, I should go…home…”

Before Fuuko was even to the door I turned to Kyou. “Don’t say it; you were right here. You saw that I didn’t do anything to her.”

Kyou grew a catlike grin anyway as Fuuko left the room. “It sure looked like she wanted you to, though.”

“Seriously?” Kyou would tease at the drop of a hat, but she would never lie. “You seriously think Fuuko, a first-year, would want me doing anything like that to her?”

She simply stared at me with her grin plastered on her face.

“I give up,” I scoffed. “Anyone else going home? Wanna walk together?”

“I’m done!” Fujibayashi chirped as she jumped from her seat. “Will you walk me home, Okazaki-kun?”

Startled by the suddenness of her response, it took me a moment to recover. “Um…sure, Fujibayashi.”

“Isn’t that great, Tomoya? You get to walk two beautiful girls home,” Kyou said as she sidled up to me.

“Make that three,” Tomoyo said bluntly as she walked up to me with her books in hand. “And I’ll make sure you get home safely.”

I chuckled in spite of myself. “Thanks, Tomoyo, but I think-”

“F-Four,” a voice interrupted.  I turned to find Kotomi behind me, a nervous expression on her beet-red face. “O-Or am I not beautiful enough?”

My smile spread, and I pretended to give her a once-over. “Hm. I’d say you’re overqualified, Kotomi-chan.”

Her expression turned to one of shock. “D-Does that mean I cannot walk with you?”

I could feel the blood drain out of my face as Kyou snickered. “No! I mean yes! Of course you can walk with us!” I sighed heavily. “I was trying to compliment you.”

“Huh?” Kotomi cocked her head. “OH! You were implying that, on the beauty scale, I was beyond the top!”

“You sure find some real winners, don’t you Tomoya?” Kyou quipped.

“I sure do,” I retorted as I gave her a meaningful look. She opened her mouth to reply, but snapped it shut again.

“Well,” Yukine said as she approached us, schoolbag in hand, “if all of you are going together, I’d like to join you.”

“Maybe we could get some ice cream on the way home as a reward for all our hard work,” Fujibayashi suggested.

“That sounds wonderful,” Yukine agreed.

“I suppose I can stop for a few minutes on the way home,” Tomoyo said.

“I would love to have ice cream with you, Tomoya-kun,” Kotomi said as she took my arm.

“Hey, no playing favorites here!” Kyou protested as she took my other arm.

“Hold on, there’s not enough of him to go around.” Wait, was Tomoyo complaining?

“I guess I’ll get a turn another time,” Yukine giggled. She then appeared to exchange a knowing glance with Fujibayashi.

With all that sorted, we left the school to some ice cream.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: Ice Cream Social**

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

The girls and I sat around the table and munched on our ice cream cones. All of us had ordered vanilla except for Kyou, who had ordered a vanilla-strawberry swirl.

“How many do you think we’ve made so far?” Yukine asked. “It seems like we’ve made a lot.”

“Starfish?” I asked, to which she nodded. “I haven’t counted them, but I’d have to say at least two hundred.” I jerked a thumb over at my silver-haired friend. “Tomoyo here’s been a regular assembly line, so I lost track of how many she’s made.”

“Tomoya, stop…” Tomoyo said, blushing.

“Sorry, sorry.” I felt a stickiness at the corner of my mouth so I reached for a napkin. “At the rate we’re going we should-”

“Let me get that for you,” Kotomi said as she reached for my face with a napkin.

“No, I’ll take care of it,” Fujibayashi insisted as she wet a napkin with her tongue.

“Good grief you two, how old do you think I am?” I wiped my mouth with my own napkin. “Thanks, but I’m a big boy now.”

“Oh-” they squeaked in unison, and the expression on their faces made me feel a little guilty. Just a little, though.

“Hey Tomoya…” Kyou said. “You seem…different.”

I paused mid-lick. “How so?”

She leaned forward in her chair and appeared to study my face. “I dunno. You just seem…older. More mature?” She snorted. “As if!”

“Now that you mention it, he does seem more mature, Onee-chan,” Fujibayashi said. “He’s been getting to school on time, turning his work in on time…” She also appeared to study me. “But more than that…the way he talks to people…it’s not like the other boys at school.”

“Is that a compliment?” I asked. “It sounds like one, but…”

“Huh?” Fujibayashi turned beet-red. “Oh, yes! Yes, it is! You seem so much more grown up, Okazaki-kun.”

“Hmmmmmmmm?” Kyou leaned back in her seat with a sly look on her face. “Tomoya, are you getting ahead of us?”

“I’m not trying to…I mean, if I am, that is…”

“It’s okay, Okazaki-senpai,” Yukine said soothingly. “I liked how you were before, but now you seem like a…a ‘better’ you. You look happier than I can remember ever seeing you, too; I like it.”

I could feel my face start to heat up. “Could…could we embarrass someone else for a while? I’m feeling kinda singled out, here.”

“Tomoya-kun…”

I looked over to see Kotomi with a sad expression and ice cream running down the side of her cone. Apparently she’d forgotten that she even had it. “You okay?” I asked.

She blinked slowly as she shifted in her seat. “Are…Are you leaving us behind?”

Puzzled, I shook my head. “I don’t understand; ‘leaving you behind’?”

She nodded sadly. “Are you leaving us behind to go far away and do great things and forget about me?”

“What? No!” I reached out toward her with a napkin. “Look, you’re getting your ice cream all over yourself.” As I cleaned her hands I glanced up a few times to see her either watching my hands or looking at my face; her sad expression never wavered. “No, it’s just…I’ve had a chance to think about other people instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for myself. I’m glad Misae sent all of you to me; it’s given me a chance to do good stuff, like helping you with the festival,” I said while glancing over at Tomoyo. “I got to help, and see the result of my helping. It felt really good.” I redirected my gaze back to Kotomi. “But as far as leaving?” I scratched my cheek as I thought about it. “Maybe. Look, I don’t know what the future’s going to be like, Kotomi-chan. I mean, you talk about me going and doing great things? How about you with all your sciencey-type knowledge? Are you seriously going to stay here when there are so many labs out there that could use your abilities?”

Kotomi said nothing but looked to the floor.

“If anything, you’re going to be leaving me behind.” I smiled at her even though she wasn’t looking at me. “And that’s how it should be. You’re smart, so you go do smart stuff; I’m not, so I’ll do…well, other stuff.”

“Tomoya-kun…” I could see tears dripping from her eyes to fall to the floor.

“It’s okay,” I said, trying to reassure her with a hand on her shoulder. “No matter how far apart we are, we’ll always be childhood friends, won’t we?”

“NO!” she cried, causing the rest of us to flinch. “I do not want to be ‘childhood friends’!”

“Kotomi-chan…?” I patted her a couple of times. “What do you mean?”

She looked back up at me, and her eyes looked wild and frightened and hollow, all at the same time. “If you leave…I will have nothing left!” With that, she shot up from her seat and ran for the door. The twins and Yukine quickly followed after her, leaving Tomoyo and me behind to watch them leave with what had to be somewhat stupefied expressions.

It was probably a full minute before Tomoyo spoke: “Tomoya? What did she mean by having ‘nothing left’?”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure, but I think it’s because she lost her parents when she was little and I was the only friend she had. I guess I’m an anchor of sorts for her, since I’m the only one left from her childhood.” I let my mind go back in time. “I was such a coward…”

“What do you mean?”

I rubbed the back of my neck before lightly smacking it a few times. “For her birthday – I think it would have been her eighth – I had promised to bring a bunch of friends over for her birthday. Nobody would come with me though, and I was too embarrassed to show my face after that, so...”

“You pulled a no-show?”

I nodded a couple of times before letting my head hang.

“Damn, Okazaki…so she was alone from then until you met up with her again, right?”

I nodded again, too ashamed to speak.

“That’s a long time,” Tomoyo mused. “I’m glad she’s so forgiving; I don’t know if I would be.”

“Me too.” I sat back up and smacked my cheeks a couple of times. “So, what do I do now? I can’t promise her that I’ll never move away.”

I felt a light pressure on my back and looked to find that Tomoyo had rested her hand on it. “Just…be there for her. As much as you can. You two are tight; I can tell.” She removed her hand from me and leaned back in her chair. “She doesn’t hate you, in case you were wondering.”

I smiled with a light chuckle. “I didn’t think so, but thanks for telling me.”

“C’mon,” she said as she got to her feet. “Let’s go find her so you two can work things out.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen: Counseling**

We didn’t run, but we walked at a fairly rapid pace. We wanted to give ourselves a chance to see her or one of the others, or give one of them a chance to see us and call out if needed.

Ironically, we were so focused on looking around that we almost ran into the small girl that materialized in our path. “Tomoya!”

I came to an abrupt stop. “Fuuko? I thought you’d gone home.”

She looked down at the ground, tapping at it with the toe of her shoe. “I…I lied. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I replied as Tomoyo doubled back to meet up with us. “Listen; have you seen Kotomi-chan? Or Yukine or the twins?”

She shook her head. “No. Why?”

I quickly explained what had happened at the ice cream shop. “…so she and I are looking for them so I can make things right.”

“I’ll help you, but…”

“But what?” Tomoyo asked.

Fuuko looked up at me with hesitant eyes. “I want you to come with me on Saturday.”

What an odd time for a request like this. “Why?”

She hesitated, blinking repeatedly and visibly swallowing. “I can’t tell you right now. It wouldn’t make sense.”

I had a flash of intuition. “Does it have to do with your…situation?”

She nodded. “Very much.”

“I’ll think about it later,” I promised. “That’s all can do right now until I get this situation with Kotomi-chan figured out.”

“All right. Thank you.” She then looked around. “I can help you find them, if you want.”

I sighed heavily. “That’d be great, thanks.”

She nodded then quickly ducked around the corner of a nearby building.

“Where’s she going?” Tomoyo asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “But at least she’s helping-”

“They’re in the park.”

“GAH!” I nearly jumped out of my skin as Fuuko suddenly appeared next to us. “How did you-”

“Let’s go!” Tomoyo interrupted, grabbing my sleeve. “Lead the way, Ibuki-san.”

***

What we found when we reached the park was…unusual. The others had found Kotomi, but instead of comforting her the way I expected that they would, they stood a short distance away from her as she sat on a nearby park bench, staring off into space.

“What’s going on?” I asked when we got close enough.

“We tried to comfort her, but every time we’d try, she’d panic and start hitting us,” Fujibayashi answered. “I sat next to her and held her and she was fine until Onee-chan tried doing the same thing.”

“Should we call the police?” Tomoyo asked.

“NO!” Fuuko cried. “Kotomi-chan is hurting!”

“I think I see the problem,” I said calmly. “All of you, wait here. Don’t come unless I specifically call you over, got it?”

The group of girls mumbled agreement. “I don’t get it, but okay,” Kyou added.

I nodded to the group before turning and heading toward Kotomi. I made sure she could see me before I called out: “Kotomi-chan? You okay?”

She looked up at me fully and her expression reminded me of a small, frightened animal. She was visibly trembling, too. “Tomoya-kun…”

I smiled warmly at her; not hard to do to someone as fragile and tender as my childhood friend. “What’s going on? You okay?”

She shook her head. “It is too much.”

“What’s too much?”

“I hurt Miyazawa-chan…”

“How come?”

“I do not know!” she cried out. “I know they are trying to help me, but it is too much!” She covered her face and started to cry.

I carefully reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “Well, it’s just me right now and just me, so you can calm down now.”

She peeked at me between her fingers, and I had to resist the urge to chuckle. “Just you? Okay.” She removed her hands from her face, though the tears still flowed. “I am sorry. When Ryou-chan was here I was okay, but when Kyou-chan came too it was too much. And then Miyazawa-chan…”

I blinked. “Were you feeling overwhelmed?”

She nodded. “The thought of you going away was too much, and then with everybody crowding me…” She covered her face as she started crying again.

I sighed with a slight smile and pulled her head to my shoulder and just held her as she released her stress through her tears.

***

I sat in the grass and watched as Kotomi happily chatted away with the other girls. A few minutes of tears (and just one person) was apparently all she needed to recover.

“Tomoya?” I looked to see Fuuko settling down next to me. “Have you thought about Saturday?”

“Saturday?” I hadn’t forgotten her request, she had just caught me at a bad time. “Um…I should be able to, sure. Can you give me some idea where I’m going? Just in case I need money or something.”

She fidgeted, knotting her fingers together as she looked at the ground. “Just to the next town…to a hospital.”

My eyebrows raised. “Is there anything you need to tell me before then?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Everything will make sense later.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, Fuuko; we’ll do this your way.” I chuckled with a wry smile. “I remember you saying something like that a while ago.”

“Yeah,” she replied with a smile of her own. “It seems like a long time ago. You’ve done so much to help me.”

I snorted. “No I haven’t. Tomoyo’s done more than I have.”

She shook her head. “That’s not true, Tomoya!” she cried, momentarily drawing the attention of the group of girls. Lowering her voice she continued: “If you hadn’t helped her, then she wouldn’t have been able to help me. So it’s like you made it so she could make all of those starfish. And that’s why I…”

I waited several seconds for her to continue, but… “Fuuko? ‘That’s why you’ what?”

She looked up at me, her face red from neck to hairline. “Th-That’s why I…want you to come to the hospital. Yeah! Because…I trust you!”

That statement warmed me from my head to my toes. “Thanks, Fuuko; that means a lot to me, to have your trust.” I laid my hand on her head. “I’ll work hard to…continue to be worthy of your trust.”

The way she ducked her head reminded me of a turtle retreating into its shell; very cute. “O-Okay, Tomoya. Thank you.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen: Hospital Visit**

_BeeBeeBeeBeeBeeBee…_

I groaned as I rolled over to hit the ‘snooze’ button on my alarm clock.  Why did I have to wake up so early on a Saturday, anyway? Oh yeah…I had promised Fuuko…

I rolled over to check the time, and my blood froze as I realized that I had already hit the ‘snooze’ button several times. “Eight-fifteen?!” I yelled, and vaulted myself out of bed. “Crap! I’m going to be late!” I didn’t have time for a full shower so I quickly splashed water on my face and used a washcloth on my ‘stinky parts’ before throwing on my clothes and running out the door.

Fortunately, Fuuko was waiting patiently for me in front of the station. “I’m sorry!” I gasped, with my hands on my knees. “I’m used to sleeping in on Saturdays, and I hit ‘snooze’ too many times!”

I felt a hand on top of my head, and I looked up into Fuuko’s smiling face. “It’s okay, Tomoya; you’re not late. You’re actually fifteen minutes early.”

I quickly checked my watch…only to realize that I had forgotten to put it on.

Fuuko giggled as she pointed at a nearby clock, and it hit me; I had never heard her laugh before. It was a nice sound. “See? You’re early.” Sure enough, the clock showed 8:45.

“Good,” I breathed. “So, what train are we taking? Do you have money for the train? I brought enough, just in case you needed it.”

She shook her head as she handed me a small piece of paper. “I won’t be going on the train, but I’ll meet you there.”

“Huh? How are you going to get there, then?"

“It’ll all make sense later, I promise,” she said. “Just follow these instructions and I’ll meet you at the hospital, okay?” My expression must have looked doubtful because she added, “Please trust me, Tomoya; I wouldn’t lie to you.”

I stared at her, trying to figure out how she’d do what she said she’d do. Finally I gave up. “Okay, Fuuko; we’ll do this your way.”

***

I stared out the window at the scenery as the train made its way to the town where the hospital was. My mind was still working on how Fuuko would meet me there without taking the train. Did she have access to a car? Maybe, but she’d be too young to drive, wouldn’t she? Airplane…? Why go to that trouble?

Then it hit me: Could it have something to do with her ability to turn intangible? Was she some kind of superhero or something? I smiled as I thought about how that would make an interesting story idea: ‘My Kouhai the Superhero’. I wondered how it would rate next to Dragonball.

“She doesn’t seem threatening,” I mused. “All she seems interested in is helping her sister get married. But why would she need intangibility for that?”

I mulled over my questions for the rest of the trip.

***

Eventually the instructions led me to the hospital. As expected, but still somewhat surprising, Fuuko stood waiting for me outside the front door. “Tomoya!”

“Hey!” I greeted. “How did you get here so quickly?”

She took me by the hand and led me into the hospital, apparently deciding to ignore my question. She stopped me next to a ceiling support, noticeably out-of-sight of other people. “The workers here can’t see or hear me, so you’ll have to talk to them, okay?”

“What do you mean, they can’t…I’ll understand shortly, won’t I?”

She nodded. “I can tell you what to say, but you’ll have to pretend that I’m not here, or they’ll think you’re…you’re…”

“Crazy?” I offered.

“Yeah. I’m really sorry, Tomoya, but this is just how it is.” Her regret showed clearly on her face.

I sighed heavily. “It’s fine. Just…lead the way, I guess.”

She smiled, nodded, and then led me to a large desk. Once we arrived she told me, “Tell her that you’re here to visit Ibuki Fuuko.”

I blinked in surprise, but gave her a slight nod as the receptionist looked to me. “Good morning, ma’am. I’m here to visit Ibuki Fuuko.”

“Okay. How are you related, sir?”

I felt the blood drain from my face, but I resisted the urge to look at Fuuko. I had to come up with something, and quickly.

Fuuko made it unnecessary: “Tell her that I would have been in your graduating class if it weren’t for the accident.”

I swallowed hard. Accident? “Sh-She would have been in my class were it not for the accident.”

A smile spread across the receptionist’s face. “Aw, that’s sweet. She must be very special for you to visit after all this time.”

My smiled felt forced, and I hoped that it didn’t show. “You could say that, ma’am. I haven’t…er, didn’t know her for very long before the accident, but I feel bad that she’s missed so much.”

She handed me a visitor’s card. “Here you go, young man: Room 225. Do you need me to tell you how to get there?”

“No ma’am,” I replied. I figured that Fuuko could show me the way to her own room. “I’ll find it. Thank you.”

The receptionist gave me a once-over. “She’s a lucky girl to have such a handsome young man coming to visit her.”

“Eh-heh. Thank you, ma’am.” I bowed and quickly made my way over to the elevator.

It didn’t take long for me to find Room 225 and, sure enough, the tag under the room number read ‘Ibuki Fuuko’. I looked down at my traveling companion, who appeared to be deliberately keeping her gaze from mine. I turned back to the door and knocked first to make sure that I wouldn’t surprise anybody.  After a second or two with no answer, I drew a deep breath and slowly and quietly opened the door.

It was your basic hospital room: a bed with a few medical-type things around it, a couple of chairs, the token health-related posters. I focused on the bed to find who I was looking for. Time seemed to stop when I saw… “Fuuko…? How…?”

She certainly looked like the girl standing right there with me, but she was…different. She looked taller, but it was hard to tell for sure with her laying down and covered by the sheet. Instead of the girlish face that I was familiar with, I saw a more….mature face, even though it was partly covered by the breathing machine. Her hair was much shorter, probably to make it easier to take care of. At least her hair color was the same as the girl next to me. I wondered why the Fuuko I knew looked barely a day over fifteen, but the girl here…

I watched in stunned silence as Fuuko walked up to the bed and placed her hand over the hand of the body in the bed. “Tomoya, this…is me.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen: Solutions & New Problems**

I must have looked like a nutcracker with its handle on auto-pilot as I looked between Fuuko and…well, Fuuko. “How…is that…that’s…how…?”

“I’m a spirit, Tomoya,” she calmly replied. “About two years ago I was on my way home from our orientation when there was…an accident.”

“The lady at the desk mentioned something like that,” I said, my wits slowly returning to me. “What…happened?”

She released her body’s hand and started pacing slowly around the bed. “I don’t remember the accident, but the reports say I was hit by a car.”

I made my way over to the bed to get a better look. “You look pretty good for someone who’s been hit by a car.”

“I’ve been in a coma ever since they brought me in,” she explained, blushing lightly. “At least that’s what I’ve heard the doctors say.” She looked over at her body. “I haven’t been in there for a long time.”

“How come?”

She tapped at the floor with her toe. “I heard Onee-chan say that she won’t get married until I get well enough to attend. I don’t want her waiting and waiting for something that might never happen.”

“’Might never happen’…?” My stomach slithered to my shoes. “Wait, you don’t think that you’re-”

“Going to die?” She sighed as she pointed to the bed. “Look at me, Tomoya; that’s just a shell there. My body doesn’t even work on its own anymore. The machines keep my heart going and my lungs breathing. I can’t do anything myself anymore.” She started trembling. “If I die now, will Onee-chan ever get married?”

“Married? Married?! That’s your biggest worry right now?!” I marched over and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Fuuko, I think you’re awesome for caring so much about your sister, but your life is so much more important than that! If your sister’s anything like you, I think she’d agree!”

She shrugged herself out of my grip. “You don’t understand! If it weren’t for her, I’d never…I’d…”

“’You’d never’ what?”

I watched as she fidgeted, shaking her head from side to side. Finally she said, “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry, but it’s a family thing.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. “Well…I can understand that.” I told her the short version of my life story. “So I can’t play basketball and I don’t get along with Dad…but thanks to Misae sending all of you to me for help…I guess my problems don’t matter to me as much any more.”

She graced me with a soft smile. “I’m really happy for you, Tomoya.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Look, I’m uh…really sorry, Fuuko; I didn’t mean to come on so strong. It’s just…while I think that marriage is important…I think you should be focused on recovering to get out of this coma instead.”

“But that could take forever!”

“And your sister seems willing to wait as long as necessary,” I countered, letting my hand drop back to my side. “How do you think she’d feel if you died, say, tomorrow?”

“Sad.”

“Right.” I blew air noisily between my lips. “Fuuko, I want to modify our deal; the girls and I will help you make the starfish, but the minute the seven-hundredth one is done…” I pointed at her body, “…you’ll get back in there and work just as hard on getting better. Will you agree to that?”

“What about setting up Onee-chan’s wedding?”

“You let me worry about that; you’ll have more important things to do.”

She humphed and grunted and pouted and tried to stare me down, but I wouldn’t budge. Finally she huffed a sigh. “Fine, Tomoya; we’ll do it your way.” She glanced up at me with humor in her eyes, and I knew it was because of what seemed like ‘our phrase’.

After we shared a laugh I placed my hand on her shoulder. “I think you’ll be on your feet in no time, thanks to your feisty spirit…no pun intended.” My smile then broadened as she treated me to another cute giggle.

***

Fuuko joined me on the train for the trip home, resting her head against my shoulder almost the whole way.

“Do you ever get tired?” I asked. “I mean, you don’t have a body right now, so…”

“Tomoya, no one here can see me,” Fuuko said as she pointed at a couple seated across from us giving me a funny look.

“Sorry,” I said to them as I tapped my ear. “Testing a new technology.”

They gave me wary looks but otherwise left me alone.

“I do get tired,” Fuuko said, answering my question. “I think the reason my body’s gotten worse is because of all the work I’ve been doing out here.”

“Then we’d better hurry up and get those carvings done so you can get back…” I glanced at the couple again. “…there.”

“Mm,” she grunted as she settled into my shoulder. “You feel good. I’m going to sleep now.”

I looked down fondly at my ghostly seatmate, not caring how I looked to others. “Sleep well, cutie.”

Apparently she could get tired.

***

I leaned back in my desk chair and grunted as I stretched my arms above me. “Finally…”

After parting from Fuuko, I bee-lined it back home and started on my ‘catch-up’ studies. I had fallen pretty far behind since taking on all that I had, so being able to work on it again was a nice break of sorts.

Finishing my stretch I returned my attention to the work before me. “Let’s see…first-year math: finished. First-year history: finished. First-year-”

_Rrrrrrringg…Rrrrrrrrring…_

“Huh? That’s weird,” I said as I got up from my chair. “Who’d be calling at…” I glanced at the clock. “…eight-thirty?” Maybe it was Dad calling to tell me he’d be home from work later than usual. “Hello, this is Okazaki.”

_“Tomoya?”_

“Misae?” Now that was a voice I hadn’t heard in a while. “Hey, what’s up?”

_“Can…”_ For some reason, she sounded…anxious? _“Can you come over? Right now?”_

“Why right now?”

_“It’s Shima…he won’t move.”_

“Your cat?”

_“Yeah.”_

Was that it? “So pick him up and move him. What am I missing here?”

My blood chilled with her next words: _“He hasn’t moved in the last two days.”_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen: Doctor, Doctor!**

The door opened and I found myself wrapped in a hug before I could even pull my hand away from the first knock. “Okazaki, thank God!”

Surprised at the sudden contact, it took me several seconds to get my wits back. “Wh-What’s going on? How is he?”

She pulled away from me, brushing a stray lock from her forehead. Damn, she was beautiful. “The same. Oh, come in!” She stepped back and around the edge of the door, allowing me in. “Sorry about the mess.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It sounds like you’ve been…distracted.” I saw the cat lying on his side on the bed. His eyes were open and looking at me, but he was otherwise not moving. It was hard to believe that it wasn’t that long ago that we had to hunt him down at the Founder’s Festival. “Have you taken him to the vet?” I asked.

She crossed her arms as she shook her head. “No, not yet.”

I looked at her in disbelief. “Well, what do you expect me to do? I’m no vet.”

She glanced at me several times before finally looking away. “I was hoping you could…talk to him. He might tell you what’s wrong.”

Of course; for some reason he and I could communicate. So I turned to the cat – Shima, I guess she was calling him now. “Hey Shima.” I felt so stupid, even though I’d done this before. “What’s going on?”

_“I’m tired.”_

“You’re tired?” I repeated for Misae’s benefit. “Tired enough to lay around for two days straight?”

_“Yeah.”_

I hadn’t come prepared to talk with him, so I gave myself a minute to think about what I needed to know. “Well…do you hurt anywhere? Are you in pain?”

He gave me a slow blink. _“A little achy, but okay otherwise.”_

“Achy, huh?” I glanced over at Misae before asking my next question. “Would you be okay with going to the doctor?”

Shima sneezed before answering. _“I hate doctors.”_

I smiled. “I hear you, buddy; I don’t like them, either. But everything they do is to help us with our health, so I put up with it. Would you be willing to?”

No answer.

“Shima?”

I’d never experienced a sigh as a thought, so the one he made sounded…interesting. _“I suppose if I have to.”_

I tried to keep from smiling at his response; he sounded like a little kid. “Would it help if I came with you? You’d have someone you could talk to, tell the doctor stuff that you tell me.”

He lifted his head just a little. _“I…I think I’d like that. You’d be an…advocate for me?”_

“Sure,” I said reassuringly. I hoped that he’d take it as such. “I’ll be an in-between for you.”

_“Good…I’m just so tired…”_

Sensing that the conversation was done I turned to Misae. “Can you make a doctor’s appointment for him? I’ll go with you as his support…yours too, if you need me.”

Misae simply stared at me with something resembling a lost expression. “Tomoya…”

“Misae? You okay?” I walked over to her and nearly put my hands on her shoulders before I remembered my promise. “Do you need me to make the appointment?”

“Eh?” She seemed to snap out of whatever reverie she had been in. “Oh! No! No, I’ll take care of it.” She chuckled. “Th-Thank you for coming over, T-Tomoya. I’ll make the appointment tomorrow.”

“Saturdays are my best days, of course,” I told her. “But I’ll skip school if I have to; just let me know when you’re going, okay?”

“No! No, I won’t make you skip school.” She ran her fingers through her hair several times. “I’ll…we’ll…figure it out.”

***

I had never taken an animal to the vet before, but I still wasn’t too surprised by the process: check in, wait until called…

The only problem was that I wasn’t allowed to go with Misae and Shima since I wasn’t part of Shima’s ‘family. I ended up seeing them off with an apologetic look to Shima as Misae carried him down the hallway. I figured that he and I would talk later so he could tell me what happened.

Fortunately the exam was done before I had too much of a chance to get bored, and I saw Misae walking back towards me with Shima in her arms. “The doctor told me that he’d call me in a few days with the results,” she said.

I smiled as I leaned forward toward the cat. “How’re you feeling, Shima?”

Shima lifted his head just enough to blink crossly at me. _“I feel like crap, thank you very much.”_

I grimaced in sympathy. “Sorry to hear that. I wanted to be there, but-”

“Uh, Okazaki? You’re talking to my cat.”

I suddenly remembered where we were and felt my face heat up as I quickly straightened, giving Shima an apologetic look. “Right! Well! So…did…did he tell you to do anything with Shima while you wait?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing special. Just keep trying to feed him and let him sleep as long as he wants for now. If he’s fighting something, the sleep will do him a lot of good.”

I worked on recovering from my embarrassment as I reached out to open the front door to the clinic for her. “Makes sense.”

The walk home was mostly quiet. I didn’t have much to say, and the few times that I glanced over at Misae she appeared to be lost in thought. Finally I decided to break the silence. “Are you okay? Can I do anything for you?”

“Eh?” she said, breaking out of her reverie.

“I asked if I could do anything for you.”

She appeared to ponder my question for a minute. “I can’t think of anything right now.” A soft smile spread across her face. “Can I take a rain check on your offer…just in case?”

I found myself returning her smile. “Sure. Anytime. Just let me know, okay?”

“Okay.”

As we approached the entrance to the boys’ dorm I stopped her with a gentle touch to her shoulder. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything. I mean anything. Talking, helping with Shima, whatever…” I opened the door for her. “I’m here for you, okay?”

She looked at me with noticeably widened eyes. “O-Okay.”

I thought about how I must have sounded as I followed her through the door. As she handed Shima to me I said, “Sorry if I’m coming on too strong.”

She glanced at me briefly as she worked on the lock to her room. “What do you mean?” She got the door unlocked and turned to take Shima from me.

“Well…” I said as I handed Shima back to her. “I just thought that I might be forcing you to call me…I mean, I know I can’t really force you to call me, but…” I rubbed the back of my neck as I realized that I didn’t know how to explain myself.

“Don’t worry, Okazaki,” she said with a chuckle. “I think I understand; you’re not telling me that I have to call you, just that you’ll be there for me if I need you. You don’t want to be pushy…right?”

I nodded vigorously. “That’s it, yeah.”

Her smile faded as a blush spread across her face. “I…I need to go. I need to put Shima on his pillow…I need…please excuse me.” And with that she closed the door between us.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen: Planning**

I leaned to the right, then to the left, stretching my sides as I examined the bookcase before me. Piles of books still cluttered the chairs, tables and floor of the Reference Room. I figured that while we waited for the results from the doctor, I could work on the Reference Room for Yukine. “What if we moved the bookcases around…rearranged them?” I said to myself; I hadn’t thought of that before. “We might be able to free up some space, maybe put in a few more chairs.”

“Ah, Tomoya-senpai,” I turned slightly at the sound of Yukine’s voice coming from behind me. “Have you come to work on the Reference Room?”

“Yeah,” I said, stopping my impromptu warm-ups to face her. “Misae-san’s situation is resolved for now. Now we just have to wait to see what the doctor says.”

“Doctor? Is something wrong with Sagara-san?”

“No no,” I replied, shaking my head. “It’s her cat, Shima. He hasn’t been himself for the last few days, so we took him to the vet.” I went back to examining the shelving. “Now we’re just waiting for the results…Have you thought of rearranging the bookcases? It might open up this place a little.”

She looked around several times. “I…I hadn’t thought of that, but…” She turned back to me and shrugged awkwardly. “I kinda like it this way. It’s cozy.”

I blinked. “I see. But if you want more people in here, you may end up having to move the shelves anyway. You’ll need more chairs, won’t you?”

She giggled; a pleasant sound as always. “I don’t want that many people in here.”

I chuckled as well. “Okay, fine. Do you want to keep it like this, then? Just have the books organized like you wanted?”

She nodded with her hands folded in front of her chest. “Yes, please.”

I gave her a thumbs-up. “Roger that. All right…” I gave myself a minute to go over my checklist. “Tomoyo’s situation is taken care of, Kyou and Fujibayashi are pretty much when they need me, Fuuko’s starfish…” I turned to Yukine. “How many do we have to go? About a hundred-and-fifty?”

Yukine nodded again with her usual serene smile. “That sounds about right. Sakagami-san’s been carving them so quickly.”

“Yeah,” I mused with a grin. “She’s the human assembly line…but I still think she should go into politics.”

“Huh?”

“You had to be there,” I said with what I hoped was a disarming smile. The blush she gave in response was interesting. “Anyway, so Tomoyo: done. Fujibayashis: ongoing. Fuuko: almost done.” I scratched my cheek in response to a sudden itch. “Maybe I could ask Tomoyo to help Fuuko with the starfish since she’s so good at it, and the rest of us can work on organizing this mess.”

“That won’t work,” came Fuuko’s voice from behind, and I turned to see Tomoyo, Kyou, Fujibayashi, and Fuuko just inside the entrance to the room.

“Why not?” I asked, only partly surprised at their sudden appearance.

In response, Fuuko knotted her fingers together. “It’s not the same without you-I mean, all of you with me.”

I sighed; I hadn’t considered the ‘community’ part of it, and I found myself wondering if Japanese girls even peed together, too. “But the rest of us are…you know what? Fine. But I’d like to get one thing done before going on to the next.”

“Then you should have waited before taking all the books down,” Tomoyo pointed out.

“That’s expecting a bit much, don’t you think?” I countered. “I’ve never been in any kind of leadership role before, so this is all new to me.” I gestured to Tomoyo and the twins. “The three of you have been in leadership for a while, so I’m sure this is nothing to you. But me? I’m just trying to learn as I go, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job.”

“You’re just making excuses,” Kyou teased.

But I wasn’t biting. “So you had the Class Rep thing figured out on Day One? Good for you…yeah, I didn’t think so,” I said as the older twin averted her eyes. “You had to learn, and at least you had an example to follow. I’m trying to do all this without a manual, so cut me some slack, okay?”

A chuckle drew my attention to Tomoyo. “Fair enough, Tomoya. I hadn’t thought of your inexperience, but you are doing a good job with what Sagara-san threw at you.”

“Anyway,” I said, trying to ignore the blush I could feel creeping across my face, “I’d like to focus on one of the projects before going on to the other. Apparently delegating isn’t going to work, so…” I looked from Fuuko to Yukine and back. “All right, here’s how we’ll do it; you two…” I pointed to the two girls, “…will decide which one we’ll finish first.”

“Huh?” they said, almost in unison.

“Well, I don’t want to feel like I’m making one of you more important than the other, so I won’t. You two talk it out and tell me what you decide…what, Tomoyo?”

The student body president had what looked like a pleased expression. “Good job, Tomoya; I thought this would be a good time to delegate, and that’s what you’ve done. Good job.”

“Well, like I said; I don’t want to treat one more important than the other. Yours was easy because of the time limit. With Furukawa, she just took my idea and ran with it…”

“It’s too bad she can’t join us,” Fujibayashi said. “I would have liked to spend time with her.”

I rubbed my chin. “I could ask, if you want. I could talk to Kotomi-chan, too, now that I think about it.”

“Ooooh, that would be awesome!” exclaimed Fuuko. “I really like her!”

I felt a smile spread. After their initial misunderstanding, Fuuko and Kotomi seemed to get along really well. I started to wonder how Kotomi would react to finding out about Fuuko’s true nature…  “I’ll be sure to talk to her,” I said as I put my curiosity aside. “Wait…why don’t you ask them?” I spread my hands. “You invite them yourselves.”

Fujibayashi flushed molten almost immediately. “Eh? I couldn’t…”

Fuuko was less hesitant about it. “That’s a great idea! I’ll go ask her right now!”

“Wait! You and Yukine need to decide what we’re doing first.”

“Why don’t we talk about it over ice cream?” Yukine suggested. Ice cream after work had become something of a routine.

“I’m game,” Tomoyo said.

“Me too,” Kyou agreed.

I sighed. “Well, we didn’t technically work, but…” I looked at a group of expectant faces and… “All right, let’s go then.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty: The Final Leg?**

_Scratch scratch…_

_Scratch scratch…_

We all sat at desks with our wooden blocks, desperately trying to turn them into starfish invitations for Fuuko’s sister’s wedding. Every once in a while I would hear a grunt from one of the others as they tried a tricky cut or something.

“NGAAAA!” I heard Kyou cry. “How many more of these stupid things do we have to make?!”

“They’re not stupid!” I heard Fuuko protest. “You take that back!”

“Calm down, Fuuko,” I said smoothly. “She’s just frustrated. She has a good question, though: How many more? Not counting the ones we’re working on right now?”

Fuuko had started keeping track of them after our last carving session, so she was able to give a quick answer. “I’ll have to check again, but I think around…fifty?”

Five pairs of wide eyes turned to Tomoyo. “What? I got in a flow, okay?”

“Tomoya was right,” Yukine giggled. “You are an assembly line.”

“I am not,” the silver-haired girl huffed. “Tomoya, stop telling people stuff like that.”

I raised my hands defensively. “I only said it to her and to Fuuko, honest.”

She simply huffed again as she cut an unusually large piece from her block.

“With Sakagami-san’s help, we should be done in no time,” Fujibayashi offered with her usual shy smile.

Tomoyo huffed yet again as she put her completed starfish on the pile, most of which was hers. I was sure that the girl was only using five cuts per starfish, and I made a special note to stay on her good side. With the way she manhandled Sunohara it was no wonder that- “Hey, that’s right.”

“What is right?” Kotomi asked.

“Sunohara,” I said. “I haven’t talked to him for a long time. I mean, I‘ve seen him in class, but he’s always asleep.”

“Don’t tell me you miss that butt monkey,” Kyou snarked.

“Sort of,” I admitted. “I’d gotten used to hanging out with him and picking on him a little.” I paused to stare at the partially-carved starfish in my hands. “I kinda wish he was here…to do this with us.”

“Tomoya…” Tomoyo sighed. “I don’t think he’d want to do this. And honestly, I think we’d hear him mainly complaining, and he’d probably try to pick a fight with me, and I’d have to kick him again, and-”

“And we wouldn’t get as much done as we have. Point taken,” I conceded. “Still…it might be good for him to help others. I mean, it’s sure been good for me.”

Kyou scoffed. “Now I don’t know if you’ve matured or just lost your mind.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “A little of both, probably.” I thought back to my time with my delinquent buddy. “The guy was a pro at soccer in middle school…It’d be cool if he could-GAH!” A shooting pain suddenly pierced my head, and I grabbed at it to keep it from exploding.

“Tomoya-kun!” I barely heard Kotomi cry out.

I could see…

***

I glanced to the side as Sunohara and I finished our second lap around the park. I noticed a family sitting at a picnic table in near the middle of the park, each with varying expressions. To my surprise I saw Nagisa, holding pom-poms, looking like she was focused more on trying to cheer correctly than on why she was cheering in the first place. The girl next to her sat with her hands folded in her lap, smiling brightly as she watched us run.

The man was a different matter. His scowl was so deep that I thought it would create its own gravity field.

Still, he could be encouraging at times. “Run faster, brat!” he would occasionally yell, and I didn’t know if it was at Sunohara or at me. This would be followed by an admonishing tone from the girl next to Nagisa and an encouraging tone from Nagisa herself.

“Good job, brat,” the man said as he handed Sunohara a water as we stopped. “But I’m still not giving you Sanae.”

***

“Oooh…” I groaned as I opened my eyes. “What the hell was that…?”

Kotomi’s face filled my field of view. “Tomoya-kun, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I groaned as I sat up slowly, putting my hand to my head. “I must’ve looked into the machine for too long.”

“Machine?” Kotomi gave me a puzzled look. “What machine are you talking about?”

“Well, the-” Wait, what machine? I shook my head to try to clear it. “I…dunno. I was running on the school track with Sunohara and Nagisa was there and then – just before I opened my eyes – I saw a machine that showed me…something.” I laid a hand on Kotomi’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, beautiful; I’m okay.”

“B-Beautiful?” Kotomi gasped. Before anyone could say anything else her eyes rolled back into her head, Fujibayashi quickly catching her before her head could hit the floor.

“Way to go, Romeo,” Kyou quipped.

“S-Sorry…” The room wasn’t spinning or anything, but… “I…don’t feel quite right. I’m gonna stop talking until I get myself sorted out.” I looked over at Tomoyo with a wry grin. “I wouldn’t want to make you faint, either.”

“You couldn’t make me faint,” Tomoyo said coolly. Before I could let her know I was kidding she added, “But…you could try, if you wanted.”

“I’ll pass,” I said as I pulled myself back into my chair. “Thanks for the pillow, by the way.”

“That wasn’t a pillow,” Kyou said with a sly smile.

I looked back to where my head had been to see Yukine rising from the floor. “I’m happy you found my lap comfortable, Tomoya.”

“Eh-heh…thanks,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “You have a…well, comfortable lap.”

Yukine blushed furiously before returning to her seat.

“You might want to stop talking now,” Tomoyo suggested.

I simply nodded, not trusting my words anymore.

***

“I’m calling it quits for today,” Kyou said as she stretched in her seat, her long hair forming a purple curtain behind the back of her chair.

“Me too,” Tomoyo agreed. “I need to get home to make dinner.”

“All right. Thanks for your hard work,” I said as I rubbed at my sore hand. “Maybe we should all call it a day.” I looked to Fuuko. “How many more do we have to do now?”

Fuuko walked over to the starfish pile and counted. “Sixt-no, fifteen,” she announced.

“We should be able to finish it up next time,” I realized.

“Shall we go treat ourselves again?” Fujibayashi suggested as she subtly claimed one of my arms. By now we all knew what she was talking about.

“That sounds wonderful,” Yukine agreed as she took my other arm.

“That is not fair!” Kotomi protested. Fortunately she had recovered quickly, but I was concerned about how my ‘beautiful’ remark might have affected her.

Tomoyo laid a gentle hand on my childhood friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay; you had your turn last time.”

“But he called me ‘Beautiful’!” Yeah; my concerns were justified.

“Kotomi-chan, don’t cry,” Fuuko said softly. “Sakagami-san and I haven’t had a turn; how do you think that makes us feel?” Wait a minute; turn?

Kotomi huffed and pouted, but quickly calmed down. “Okay Fu-chan, Sakagami-chan; I am sorry. Let us go.”

With all that sorted, we left the school to some ice cream.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One: Ice Cream Very Social**

I spooned ice cream into my mouth as I looked around at my seatmates. Kotomi and Fuuko happily chatted away between bites of ice cream cones, while Fujibayashi and Yukine appeared to make small talk over their bowls.

What surprised me, though, was how well Tomoyo and Kyou were getting along. I would’ve thought that two strong-willed girls like them would be butting heads rather than giggling over ice cream cones.

As I ate I allowed myself to run through my mental checklist again. Tomoyo’s situation had been dealt with, so I mentally checked that off.

The Theatre Club was doing nicely, likely due to Nagisa’s performance at the Founder’s Festival. A lot of students, most of them first-years, were signing up. I made a mental note to check with her to see if she could at least help with the Reference Room.

The twins’ situation was still ongoing. They hadn’t asked for my help for a while, so either they were asking others for help or were doing fine on their own. It didn’t really matter to me; if they needed me I was sure they’d let me know.

The Reference Room would have to wait until Fuuko’s starfish were done.

Fuuko’s situation…that was a tricky one. We were almost done with the starfish, but I still didn’t know how I was going to ‘break the ice’ with her older sister and her boyfriend. I decided that I would get as much information out of Fuuko as I could before she went back to her body to work on recovering.

Kotomi…she joined up to help me, but because of her recent behavior I was starting to get concerned. I added her name to my checklist just in case something came up.

Finally, Misae…

I was really worried about her. She and Shima went back years, and if something happened to him…I had no idea how she’d take it. I knew that Shima wouldn’t be around forever, and I think she knew it as well, but still…I needed to be ready if something happened.

Apparently I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t see the hand waving in front of my face. “Huh?”

“Helloooooo Tomoya,” Kyou crooned. “You in another world again?”

I shook my head, partly to clear it. “No, just thinking about what still needs to be done.”

“Tomoya-kun,” Kotomi said, drawing my attention. She had moved to a seat next to me while I was in La-La Land. “I am sorry for acting the way that I did.”

I smiled at my old friend. “Don’t worry about it. I gave you a reason to be upset, so I’m sorry for that.”

Her eyes glistened as she smiled softly, and I suddenly found myself fighting off another memory of something that never happened. Weird.

Tomoyo interrupted the awkward silence. “If you don’t need anything from me, I need to head home.”

“No, no,” I waved her off. “Go ahead. Thanks for all your hard work.”

She bit her lip as she briefly gazed at me, then quickly turned and hurried out the ice-cream shop door.

I blinked at the way she had left. “Did I say something wrong?”

The answer to my question came from Yukine. “Actually, I think you’ve been saying a lot of right things. We’ve all talked about how mature you seem, so it’s no surprise that-” She suddenly cut herself off, blushing furiously.

“What? ‘No surprise that’ what?” I watched as Yukine squirmed in her seat. “I don’t mean to embarrass you, Yukine, but if there’s something I don’t know that I should, you’d be helping me out a lot.”

She shook her head almost imperceptibly. “No,” she squeaked. “It’s nothing important.”

She still seemed dodgy, but I had no reason to think she was lying. “Okay, if you say so.”

Kyou snorted. “God, Tomoya, you are so dense sometimes.”

“He is not!” Kotomi and Fuuko exclaimed, almost in unison. “You take that back!” Fuuko added, to which Kyou raised her hands defensively, smirk still in place.

“O-Onee-chan, maybe we should be heading home, too,” Fujibayashi said. “It is getting close to dinnertime.”

As the twins got up to leave, I gestured Fuuko over to me. “First; thanks for sticking up for me. Second; I’m going to need to talk to you about your sister and her boyfriend before the starfish are finished.”

“Why do you need to talk to me before then…?” Fuuko asked before a look of realization crossed her face. “Oh…right.”

“Right,” I repeated. “You’re going to be…busy, right?” I asked, trying to ignore Kotomi’s curious expression.

The small girl looked down at her fidgeting hands. “I just don’t want to miss Nee-san’s wedding.”

“Then you’d better recover quickly,” I said. “I told you; I believe in you. Get back in there and you’ll recover in no time.” I smiled as I rested a hand on her shoulder, which she covered with one of hers. “I have faith in you Fuuko.”

Tears filled Fuuko’s eyes before Kotomi’s astonished ones. “Thank you, Tomoya. I-I believe in you, too. You’ll help Nee-san get married.”

I nodded sagely. “I’ll do my best, I promise.”

“Tomoya-kun?” Kotomi finally asked; it wasn’t like I didn’t know she would. “What are you talking about?”

I leaned back in my seat, my hand slipping off of Fuuko’s shoulder and out of her grasp. “Fuuko’s story. It’s not my story to tell, so you’ll have to ask her. Fuuko, you don’t have to tell if you don’t want to, but let me just say that you can trust Kotomi-chan.” I chuckled softly. “’Course you two get along so well so I figure you know that already.”

“Yeah,” Fuuko replied, giggling through her tears. She then got up and took Kotomi by the hand. “Let’s go, Kotomi-chan; I have to tell you a story.”

Kotomi gave me another puzzled look, but allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and toward the shop door. She turned to me one last time as she left the shop, and I gave her a smile and a nod, hopefully communicating my confidence in her.

That just left Yukine. “Enjoying the show?” I asked.

Fortunately she’d had enough time for her face to return to its normal color. “I must admit; I’m curious about Ibuki’s story as well.”

I stretched my arms over my head. “Well like I said, it’s her story to tell, so feel free to ask her.”

She giggled in her cute way. “I may just do that.” She lightly blushed again. “Um, Tomoya? Would you…be willing to, um…walk me home?”

I brought my arms back down, straightening in my seat again. “Need an escort, huh? Sure, I’ll walk you home.” As we got to our feet I felt her take my arm again. “You know, I’ll need that arm if some brute tries to attack you.”

She said nothing and wouldn’t meet my gaze as her eyes darted around while she blushed.

I mentally shrugged. “Okay, then,” I said as I reached for the shop door. “Next stop: Home.”

As we walked home I allowed myself to fantasize. Yukine was as nice enough girl, sure, but I wanted to know what it would feel like to have Misae holding my arm.

I decided to stop by her place after dropping Yukine off. She should have heard from the doctor by this point.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Completion**

We stared at the pile of wooden starfish on the table before us.

“Done!” Tomoyo exclaimed as she brushed her hands together. “Seven-hundred wedding invitations.”

“Now all we have to do is hand them out,” said Fujibayashi.

“Assuming that Tomoya can get Fuuko’s sister and her boyfriend to get married,” Kyou added.

“Tomoya-kun can do it,” Kotomi replied, taking a step closer to me. “He understands people; he will figure something out.”

“I believe that you’ll do it, too,” Yukine agreed. “You’re smart and persistent.”

“Um…thanks.” I coughed, very uncomfortable with the praise. “I’ve been thinking of ways to bring up the subject, but…” I trailed off as my gaze settled on Fuuko. “What’s the matter, Fuuko? We’ve finished the seven-hundred starfish, and…oh, yeah…” My mood fell as I remembered our agreement.

She nodded with a forlorn expression. “Tomoya? Could I talk to you for a minute?”

I excused the two of us and followed her out to the hallway. “What’s up?”

She wouldn’t meet my gaze as she knotted and unknotted her fingers over and over again. “I…I don’t want to go back.”

“Why not?”

“I…” She looked up at me, and I saw an expression of pain on her face so intense it nearly made my heart ache. “I…I’ll miss you.”

I chuckled lightly as I placed a hand on her head. “Thanks. I’ll miss you, too.”

She gently gnawed on her lower lip. “Would you come to the hospital this Saturday? I want to say ‘good-bye’ properly.”

“I can do that,” I quickly replied. “Just me, though?” I waved a hand at the classroom door. “All of them helped you, and they’d probably want to see you off.”

She choked on her laugh. “Yeah, they would, wouldn’t they?” She sighed heavily. “But I want it small; I’d like it to be just you and Kotomi-chan. You could explain it to the others…couldn’t you?”

It was my turn to sigh heavily. “Yeah, I could… All right Fuuko, we’ll do this your way.” We both chuckled at our shared phrase, though our laughter felt kinda…heavy.

Kyou checked Fuuko over as thoroughly as she could when we went back in the classroom. “Did he do anything to you? Did he try to feel you up or anything?”

“You know damn well I’m not like that,” I protested. “Knock it off.”

“But this sad face tells me you did something!” Kyou said as she cupped the smaller girl’s jaw; she was obviously just trying to get under my skin.

I was about to give her a snappy retort when something clicked. Oh, poor Kyou…you asked for it. “Well, what do you think I did?” I asked as I slowly made my way over to her.

Kyou’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she let go of Fuuko. “W-Well, you probably-”

“Looked into her eyes like this?” I said softly as I gazed intently into her panicked eyes.

“T-Tomoya?” she stammered. “D-don’t do that…”

“Ran my fingers through her hair like this?” I said as I caressed her purple lengths; she really had nice, soft hair.

“Okazaki-kun, what are you doing?” I heard Fujibayashi ask worriedly.

I flicked my gaze to her long enough to give her a wink before looking back at Kyou.

“…and, obviously, I must have caressed her face like this,” I finished, as I let my hand slide from her hair to her cheek. “Whoa!” I suddenly had to grab her under her arms as her knees buckled under her. With Tomoyo’s help I carried her over to a nearby chair and carefully sat her in it. “You okay, Kyou?” I asked in a more normal voice.

“Th-That wasn’t funny,” Kyou said between slightly ragged breaths. “It’s n-not nice to p-play with a girl’s heart.”

“W-We’ve seen you tease him enough,” Tomoyo replied; for some reason, her voice was shaky as well. “I think y-you had this coming.”

“Onee-chan…are you okay?” Fujibayashi said with a worried look.

Kyou put a hand on her chest and forced herself to take several deep breaths. I was sure that I heard her say something like, “Maybe I should tease you more…”

“Onee-chan…?”

Kyou blinked, seeming to remember where she was. She then glared up at me. “All right, idiot; I had it coming.”

I smiled sympathetically at her before remembering myself that we weren’t alone. “Sorry about that everybody, I just wanted her to stop teas-”

Yukine was clearly sweating, with her hands folded and biting a knuckle, simply watching us. Kotomi had collapsed to the floor, sitting on her heels and trembling all over. I looked to Tomoyo, who was also trembling and wouldn’t meet my gaze. Same with Fujibayashi. I looked over to the one I was supposed to have ‘done something to’ to find Fuuko staring off into space while hugging herself tightly.

Maybe I’d overdone it a bit?

***

“Sorry about that, Kyou,” I said as I handed her a tea. “I didn’t mean to do that to you. I just figured you’d been teasing me, so I thought I’d tease you back.”

“S’okay,” she replied. “Like I said; I had it coming. Just…don’t do that again, okay?”

“Yeah, no problem. If I had known that it would affect you like that, I wouldn’t have done it at all.” I then started handing cans of tea and coffee to the other girls; apparently the sight of my actions had been a little too much for them. I could understand girls like Fujibayashi and Kotomi being shocked by it, but Tomoyo? Watching her take the can of coffee with still-trembling hands was surprising, and I ended up asking each of them if they were okay.

“I’m okay, Tomoya,” Yukine had said. “You were just so…intense.”

Fujibayashi had giggled with a blush. “I’ll admit that I was a little jealous.”

Fuuko simply stared at me as she took the can of tea.

Kotomi actually needed my help with opening the can. “T-Tomoya-k-kun,” she said in a trembling voice.

For my part, I tried to keep my damn mouth shut and not touch any of them.

After everyone had settled down enough to start heading home for the day, I stopped Kotomi and Fuuko – carefully – to talk with them. “Fuuko, you got a minute?”

She fidgeted as she stood before me. “Y-Yeah, Tomoya? Did you need something?”

I smiled conspiratorially. “Would you be willing to make two more starfish, extra-special ones?”

She stopped fidgeting to give me a puzzled look. “Sure. Why?”

“I’d like to keep that a secret,” I said, “but I will tell you that I think they’ll help with your sister’s situation.”

She hesitated, but eventually nodded. “Okay, Tomoya; I trust you.”

“Great! Can you have them ready tomorrow?”

She nodded again. “Yes.”

“Thanks,” I said. “And I won’t forget Saturday, either.”

“Saturday?” Kotomi asked as we saw Fuuko off. “What is happening on Saturday?”

I let my arm drop from waving at Fuuko and turned to her. “Fuuko would like you and me to go with her to the hospital this Saturday.”

“Why is that?” she asked while pressing her face toward me; she looked like she wanted me to put my hand on it.

“Well, she told you about her…situation, right? She’s going to be going away for a while to work on getting better while I work on convincing her sister and future brother-in-law to get married, plan the wedding, whatever.”

She nodded thoughtfully as she straightened again. “I think I understand. But why just us?  Would she not want all of us there?”

I lightly scratched my cheek as I thought how to answer. “I think…it’s because she’s the closest to us. Or we’re closest to her. Something like that.”

She giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. “I think I understand, Tomoya-kun. I will be there.” She suddenly started fidgeting, shifting her weight from foot to foot. “We have to go by train, right? Could we meet somewhere and go together?”

“Sure,” I said with a smile. “Riding with my best friend sounds great!”

She flinched as though I’d struck her. “B-Best friend? R-Right, we are best friends…”

She was oddly silent as I walked her home.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Parting**

I met up with Kotomi at the train station at 10 AM as planned. Our goal was to meet up with Fuuko at the hospital at 11 AM and see her off then.

As I rounded the corner to where I was supposed to meet Kotomi I stopped in shock. Kotomi was there all right, but it was her outfit that stopped me in my tracks. “Wooowww…”

It looked like she was dressed for a date; she wore a short-sleeved white dress with dark pink ribbons wrapped around the ends of the sleeves, at her elbows. The hat on her head appeared to be the same shade of white and it too had a pink ribbon wrapped around it and tied into a big bow. Same story with the shoes; white with pink bows. I wasn’t a fashion expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I was still surprised to notice that it went so well with her hair color.

She gave me a shy smile as I walked up to her. “Do…Do you like my dress?”

“You look really nice,” I replied, then looked down at my polo shirt and blue jeans. “I look like a bum compared to you.”

“Oh, no!” she exclaimed. “You are very handsome!”

“Um…thanks?” I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t think I look that good.”

She stepped toward me and, before I realized what she was doing, reached for my collar. “Just need to fix this…there!”

“Uh, Kotomi-chan?” I quickly but carefully stepped away from her hands to gesture to the tracks. “The, uh, train’s about to arrive.”

“Oh! Okay,” she chirped…and then took hold of my arm. “I do not wish to become separated from you. Is this okay?”

“Um, sure.” What the hell else was I supposed to say? “Just ‘til we get settled in, sure.”

She squeezed my arm a little more tightly and CRAP! I could feel her softness against my arm.

“Tomoya-kun, are you okay? Your face is very red.”

“I-I-I’m fine,” I managed to stammer. “I must have worn too many layers with how hot it is.”

She gave me a puzzled look. “But it is not that hot today.”

I raised my free hand in the universal gesture for ‘stop’. “Just…drop it, okay? I’m fine, really.”

Fortunately she didn’t press the matter further. Unfortunately she did keep herself pressed to my arm even after we were seated on the train.

***

She ended up holding onto my arm all the way to the hospital. Since I couldn’t think of a polite way to get her to let go, I kept my concerns to myself.

Like last time, I checked in at the desk: “Hi, we’re here to visit Ibuki Fuuko?”

The receptionist looked up at me and smiled. “How nice! She hasn’t had a visitor in a couple of weeks…other than her sister, that is.”

My heart ached a little. Did Fuuko not have any friends before Misae sent her to me? “Th-That’s too bad. So, are we okay to go?” I gestured to Kotomi. “She’s in my graduating class as well, so Ibuki-san would have graduated with her, too.”

She looked down at her notebook. “I’ll just need your names first, please.”

“Okazaki Tomoya, ma’am.”

She blinked. “Oh, so you’re the one who visited then!” She sure was a bubbly one. “Well then, I just need your friend’s name and then I can send you on your way.”

I looked to Kotomi, who was rapidly looking from the receptionist to me and back. “Go ahead and tell her your name. Don’t worry, it’s routine.”

She pointed to herself. “Kotomi. You spell-”

“Just…your name is fine,” I interrupted, trying to save our dignity. “She doesn’t need the whole introduction.”

She blinked at me in surprise before nodding and looking back to the receptionist. “My name is Ichinose Kotomi.”

“Thank you, dear,” the receptionist said with a gentle smile. “Do you remember where the room is?”

“Room 225. I know where it is,” I replied.

We made our way down the hallways and, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kotomi looking around in wonder. We eventually came to Room 225 and entered to find Fuuko waiting for us.

“Fuuko-chan!” Kotomi blurted as she hurried toward the small girl.

“OOF!” Fuuko replied as Kotomi gave her a firm embrace. “Kotomi-chan, you’re squeezing me too tight…”

After peeling Kotomi off of the smaller girl I went around to the to her side of the bed. “How have you been doing? Your body, that is?”

Fuuko looked down at her knotted fingers. “They say…The…” She sighed heavily. “The last time Nee-san was here the doctors told her that I might not live much longer.”

“Then…” My words caught in my throat, but I was determined to be encouraging. “Then it looks like you’re just in time to make a miracle.”

“Huh?”

I gestured to her body. “Once you get back in there you’ll be fine in no time.” I leaned toward her to emphasize my next point. “Now that you can focus on healing since I’ll take care of things for you from here on.”

She nodded with watery eyes. “Yeah…I know you will. I trust you.”

“Fuuko-chan…” Kotomi’s voice was barely more than a whisper.

The smaller girl seemed to catch herself and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. “That’s why I wanted you both to come here…just in case I…don’t make it.”

“Fuuko-chan!”

“It’s all right,” I said, trying to smooth Kotomi’s feelings. “We all know the reality here. I believe she’ll pull through, but I’m not stupid.”

Kotomi simply sniffed and blotted at her eyes with a tissue.

I felt like I was starting a ritual as I moved to stand before my small friend. “Fuuko, thank you for all your help, with the Festival and the Reference Room…but most of all, thank you for being a good friend to me and to…well, all of us.” I swallowed a lump before continuing. “I hope for your speedy recovery and look forward to seeing you again.”

She smiled, though her lower lip trembled and she spoke in a trembling voice. “I…I don’t know what to say…”

“How about ‘See you later’?” I suggested.

She nodded. “That sounds good. But first…” She turned to our blue-haired friend. “Kotomi-chan…”

“Fuuko-chan…” Kotomi’s lip was trembling also.

They suddenly lunged for each other, breaking into tears as they held each other. I had to swallow several times to keep myself from falling apart as well.

Finally they separated, though I could tell that they did so very reluctantly. “I will visit you every week until you recover,” Kotomi promised between sniffs.

“I-I’m looking forward to it a-already,” Fuuko said as she tried to catch her breath. After glancing at me she asked, “C-could you give me a few minutes alone with Tomoya?”

Kotomi blinked errant tears from her eyes as she gave Fuuko a puzzled look. “O-Okay.”

“I’ll call you back in before I leave,” Fuuko said as Kotomi left the room. Then she turned to me. “Hey, Strange Guy…”

“Hey.”

She traced circles on the hospital floor with her the toe of her shoe. “Th-Thank you for everything you’ve done for me…and everything you’re going to do.”

“Going to do…? Oh, right; talking to your sister…I hadn’t forgotten!” I waved my hands defensively as she glared at me. “I’m just not there right now; I would have remembered later, I swear!”

She angled her head, and her glare softened to a smile. “I know you would have; that’s why I trust you.”

I could see that, with how many times she had said ‘I trust you’ to me. “Thanks for your trust,” I replied bashfully. “It means a lot to me.”

She bit her lower lip as her gaze dropped. “After…After I recover I’ll probably need physical therapy…” She raised her gaze back to mine. “When that happens…would you come help me?”

I was stunned; she was going to let me see her that vulnerable? “I-I don’t know what to say, Fuuko…I’m honored…”

“So? Will you?” she asked, her eyes hopeful.

I reflexively called up my checklist. Tomoyo: done. Kyou and Fujibayashi: ongoing. Yukine: in process. Nagisa: update needed. Misae: …

Misae: … “I’ll try, but I still have a few things on my plate.”

She smiled sadly. “I understand, Tomoya-kun. I’m not the only one you’re trying to take care of.”

‘Tomoya-kun’? “R-Right. L-Like I said; I’d be honored to help you with this, it’s just that I don’t know what my time will look like when you come back.” I shrugged with what must have been an awkward smile. “Can you give me a few weeks before you recover? So I have time to wrap up everything else?”

Her happy giggle echoed off the walls of the room. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best.”

I laughed along with her until the atmosphere started to feel heavy. “I-I’m going to get Kotomi-chan,” I said as I headed toward the door.

“Wait!”

I retraced the two steps needed to stand before Fuuko again. “Y-Yeah?”

With trembling hands she reached out and took one of mine and laid it against her face as she closed her eyes. “Please forgive Fuuko for being so selfish, but Fuuko has wanted to do this for a long time.”

My eyebrows jumped; she must have been pretty nervous to revert after all this time. “How come?”

“Be…Because I love you. I know about Sagara-san, but I can’t help it; you’ve done so much for me and I’ve seen what a good guy you are…I’m sorry.” She opened her eyes and tears spilled out of them. “Part of me hopes you get Sagara-san, but part of me hopes you fail.”

I smiled sadly. “I understand, Fuuko, and I forgive you. I’m sorry that I can’t give you what you want...or who you want, I guess.”

She nodded sadly as she removed my hand from her cheek. “You can bring Kotomi-chan in now.”

“Tomoya-kun, Fuuko-chan; are you okay?” Kotomi asked as soon she saw our faces.

Fuuko spoke up first: “We’re fine, Kotomi-chan.” She sighed heavily. “I told him.”

Kotomi’s lip trembled. “You are so brave,” she said, her voice filled with admiration.

Before I had a chance to ask, Fuuko interrupted my thoughts with, “I had better go. I’m not going to get better standing around like this, right?”

“Right,” Kotomi and I said almost in unison.

Fuuko moved to the side of the bed and faced us. “Well…see you later.” And with that she faded from our view, and I heard the sounds from the machines speed up for just a moment before settling back to normal.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Moving On**

“Summer vacation will be starting soon,” I said as I leaned forward, placing my hands onto the table, “so I would like to get the Reference Room organized soon. I know it’s basically my fault because of poor planning, but Yukine’s been waiting patiently, so now that Fuuko’s situation has been taken care of I want to focus on her stuff now.”

“’Bout time,” Kyou quipped.

“By the way; where is Fuuko-chan?” Fujibayashi asked.

I looked over at Kotomi, who nodded with a sad smile. “She’s…in the hospital.”

Everyone but Kotomi and I shot to their feet. “In the hospital?!” Kyou repeated. “When the hell were you planning on telling us?!”

“Today,” I replied, trying to keep my voice even. “It’s just…it’s not what you’re probably thinking.” And as I told Fuuko’s story to the others, their eyes widened in shock but they eventually settled back into their seats. “…so she asked Kotomi and I to be with her on Saturday when she…went back into her body.”

“So, all this time she was a…” Tomoyo couldn’t finish her sentence, which was completely understandable.

“A spirit of some kind,” I confirmed. “I don’t know how she was able to be solid, but she managed somehow.”

“Amazing…” Yukine breathed as she fiddled with a couple of coins. “And all for her sister.”

“Why did she only ask the two of you?” Kyou was clearly irritated at having been left out.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “She never told us exactly why. I think she wanted me there because…I think since I was kinda the one who got the ball rolling, she felt close to me in a way.” I thought it best to leave out her confession.

“That makes sense,” Fujibayashi said. “And she’d want Kotomi-chan there since she’s been like an older sister to her.”

“Even though they’re about the same age,” Tomoyo noted. “From what Tomoya’s said, they’d be in the same graduating class.”

“I think she would have liked to have you all there, but it might have been a little too much for her,” I said, crossing my arms.

“I’m going to miss her,” Fujibayashi said sadly.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to know what hospital she’s in,” Tomoyo said with a determined look. “I’d like to visit her if I can.”

“You do remember she’s in a coma, right?” Kyou chided.

Tomoyo simply grunted at her upperclassman.

“That’s true; I could tell you where she is. I’ve heard that people in a coma can still hear what’s going on around them.” I shrugged. “Besides, if she feels up to it she may pop out for a minute to talk.”

“That would be…somewhat creepy,” Yukine said with a giggle.

“It was just an idea,” I said, then rubbed my hands together. “Okay! If no one has any questions – or any more questions – I’d like to get to fixing this place.”

“So how are we going to do this?” Tomoyo asked.

Fortunately I’d had some time to give it thought, so my answer came easily. “We’ll organize them by genre, like we talked about.” I pointed to one of the bookcases, which had a sheet of paper hanging from the front. “First, we’ll stack them in front of the bookcases that match the genre on the sheets. Then, we’ll start putting them on the shelves. I’m sorry, but this part’s gonna be a little messy because we’re just going to have to sort as we go.”

“We can stack the hentai by the door,” Tomoyo suggested. “That way it’ll be easier for me to take them out to the dumpster.”

“Awww…” I looked over to see Yukine with an embarrassed smile.

I couldn’t help but smile as well. “I know, Yukine. But we both know that these kinds of books aren’t supposed to be at school.”

“Couldn’t I just take them home?” she pressed.

I looked at Tomoyo as if to ask ‘Well?’, and she shook her head with a sigh. “I…suppose, if you want them that badly.” Her expression scrunched in mild disgust. “Why do you want them, anyway?”

There was another long pause before Yukine spoke again. “I know they’re naughty, but a lot of them have good stories, about relationships and stuff.”

I hadn’t read any hentai myself, but I had heard something similar to what Yukine was saying. “Let’s…just stack them by the door and focus on shelving the rest, okay? The two of you can argue over what happens to them later.”

***

“Tomoya? May I step outside for a bit?”

I wiped some sweat from my forehead as I looked up at Yukine. “Sure. You okay?”

She fanned herself with a hand. “I just need some fresh air.”

I glanced at the wall-mounted clock. “We could just open the win-never mind. Can you be back in about fifteen minutes? We’re on a roll here, and I’d hate for us to lose our momentum.” Yukine and I then noticed Tomoyo carrying a huge stack of books over to a bookcase. “Maybe our momentum is fine. Anyway, will fifteen minutes be enough?”

She nodded, but with noticeable hesitation. “If nothing happens, I’ll be back by then.”

What an odd way to put it. “Ooookay, well…have a good break. See you later.”

It was with an awkward wave and an odd look that Yukine headed for the door. I went back to work but kept an eye on her as she left. I noticed that she glanced back at me several times as she slowly headed toward the door, opened it, and left, sliding the door shut behind her. The squeaking reminded me to look into something to fix the door.

More importantly, though… “Hey, Fujibayashi: You and Yukine were working together, weren’t you?”

“That’s right; we were. Why?”

“Did she seem strange to you? I mean, was she acting funny while you two worked?”

The younger twin giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. “Other than her fixation on the hentai, I haven’t found anything strange about her.”

I chuckled lightly. “Yeah, I know what you mean. All right, thanks.”

I continued to work on my pile of books, sorting them and carrying them over to the appropriate bookcase. I was so wrapped up in my work that I didn’t notice when fifteen minutes passed. “Hey, anybody see Yukine come back?” I asked the others. The responses were all differing versions of ‘No’. “Huh, that’s weird; she said she’d be back by now.” I carried a stack of shounen manga over and plopped it in front of the bookcase. “I’m going to go find her. I’ll try to not be too long.”

“We’ll be fine while you’re gone,” Tomoyo said as she carried another mountain across the room.

“Yeah…I guess so,” I said. That girl was a monster.

“Looks like she’s watching the Baseball Club,” Kyou said as she squinted out the window. “I think I see her hair over there.”

That would make it easier. “All right, I’ll go get her and come right back.”

As I left the room I smiled to myself. Maybe she had taken one of the hentai and lost track of time while reading it?


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Close Call**

Sure enough, I found Yukine out by the baseball diamond. She didn’t seem to be paying attention to the game, though. As I got closer I noticed that she actually appeared to be spacing out. Was it too hot outside for her? “Yukine? You okay?”

She jerked at the sound of my voice. “Oh! Tomoya-senpai! What a surprise!”

I wiped my hands on my pant legs as I stopped in front of her. “I don’t mean to be pushy, but it’s been more than fifteen minutes, and I was starting to worry about you.”

“Really?” she looked at her wrist before looking up at me in shock. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean…Wait, you were worried about me?”

I gave her my best incredulous look. “Of course I was. You said you’d be back in fifteen minutes, and you weren’t. So I was worried that something might have happened to you.”

She clasped her hands in front of her chest. “Aw, you’re so sweet…”

*CRACK*

The sound of a bat hitting a ball caused me to look just in time to see a ball flying toward Yukine’s head. “LOOK OUT!” I yelled, grabbing her and throwing us both out of the ball’s path.

*CRASH* *THUMP* *SLAM*

***

I cracked an eye open to find myself in the gym storage shed. I opened the other eye to find the place pitch-black; the door must have shut behind us.

Waitaminute…how would the door shut behind us on its own?!

It was then that I realized that I was still holding tightly on to Yukine as she lay on top of me. “Are you okay?!” I asked, somewhat panicked.

“Mmmph,” she grunted into my chest. After I loosened my grip enough I felt her look up at me. “I’m okay. That was exciting, wasn’t it?”

We sat up and I got to my feet before turning to help her up. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I noticed that I could still see some light leaking in from around the door. Good, at least the place wasn’t as dark as I thought.

I looked to Yukine. The dim light made it harder to see, but she appeared to be okay. In fact she was staring at me with wide eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’m fine.” She clasped her hands in front of her chest with an expression of wonder on her face. “Wow, it really worked…”

“What worked?” I asked.

“The spell.”

I had a sinking feeling… “What spell?”

She took a step closer to me. “I found a spell that would -” She cut herself off, gasping and slapping her hands against her mouth. Even in the dim light I could see her cheeks reddening and shock reflected in her eyes.

“Yukine, what’s going on?” I asked cautiously as I lay my hands on her shoulders. “Is this because I took so long in getting to your stuff? Like I said, I’m really sorry abou-”

“No, I understand,” she interrupted as she reached up to cover one of my hands with her own. “It’s not because of that. I…really didn’t think it would work.”

“Your spell?

She nodded. “It was a simple thing, really; just a spell to trap the person in with a cute girl. I changed it a little to see if it would trap me with a cute guy.”

I snorted as I dropped my hands from her shoulders and turned to see about opening the door. “Well, it looks like that one blew up in your face; you got stuck with me, instead.” I tugged on the handle a couple of times, but it wouldn’t budge. Weird.

“The spell worked perfectly, senpai.”

I paused in my efforts to open the door. Had I heard her correctly? “Wh-What?”

I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned to find Yukine gazing at me with an unreadable expression. “The spell worked perfectly, T-Tomoya. I thought of you when the coins fell, and here you are.”

I put two and two together and got: “Wait…you think I’m cute?”

Her gaze didn’t waver as she looked me in the eyes; it was more than a little unnerving. “’Handsome’ might be a better word. Kyou-senpai has called you ‘gorgeous’, and I think I see what she means.”

Huh? Lady Violence thought I was gorge-er, she liked the way I look?

“I would use a different word, though,” she said as she rested her hands on my chest, leaning into me. “I like ‘manly’. You’re manly, Tomoya. You look nice and you’re so mature that…” she started to shake, and when she spoke again I could hear the tears in her voice. “…I’m sorry, Tomoya! I know you love Sagara-san, but I can’t help it! You’re such a good man that…that…I couldn’t help falling in love with you!”

How did everyone know about my feelings for Misae? I hadn’t told anyone, so…had she told the girls herself? I sighed sadly as I wrapped my arms around the crying girl. “I’m sorry, Yukine. I didn’t mean to be…impressive.” I felt awkward saying it, but felt a little better when she sputtered out some laughter through her sobs.

“T-Tomoya…don’t make me laugh. I’m supposed to be sad right now.” She stepped away from me, stamping her foot. “Ooooohhhh…Why are you so wonderful?”

“If I’m wonderful, then that’s news to me,” I quipped with a lopsided smile before falling serious. “I’m, uh…sorry I can’t give you what-er, who you want.” I cringed internally as I remembered having to say a similar thing to Fuuko.

“I know,” she said as she dabbed at her eyes with her uniform sleeves. “And this is going to sound really weird, but…if things don’t work out between you and Sagara-san…” she looked up at me with earnest eyes. “…would you consider giving me a chance?”

I nearly had to pick my jaw up off of the floor; she was basically offering to be a backup plan. “Yu-Yukine…I-I don’t know what to – are you serious?!” I gestured to her. “You should have better than someone who would take you just because…” I threw up my hands. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation!”

Her giggle drew my gaze back to her. “You’re so funny, Tomoya,” she said. “I don’t know if this will make sense, but I do value myself, which is why I’m willing to wait and see what happens. I want a good man, and there aren’t many of those at the school, so…” She shrugged with another giggle. “Consider me a stalker?”

I snorted into a chuckle. “Yukine…what am I going to do with you?”

“Lots, I hope.”

I rolled my eyes as I tried to force my heart rate down. “Let’s…see about getting out of here. Thank you for telling me how you feel, and I really am sorry that I can’t be…that…for you.”

“I understand,” she replied. As I turned back to the door she stopped me. “I think I can open it.”

“You sure?” I looked her up and down, causing her to blush; I guess I should have known better. “That door is pretty heavy, and I think it locked behind us.”

“May I try?”

I sighed; I seemed to be doing that more lately. “Fine. Be my guest, just don’t hurt yourself.”

Her blush darkened. “Could…Could you turn the other way? I’ll let you know when it’s safe to turn back.”

With a shrug and a smile I turned my back on my kouhai. “All right, I’m looking the other way; go for it.”

From behind me I heard what sounded like the rustle of clothing, mumbling, then the rustle again. “Okay Tomoya, it’s safe.”

I turned in time to see the door open, screeching as it slid along its rails. How did she do that?

***

“Well, that was exciting, wasn’t it?” she asked as we exited the storage room to the sound of catcalls from the baseball team.

“Y-Yeah,” I said as I left what had to be one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. “We’d better hurry back; we’ve been gone a long time. Kyou’s probably going to kill…me…” I trailed off as I remember what Yukine had said.

“Is there something wrong…Gorgeous?” My eyes snapped over to Yukine, who had a mischievous smile.

I felt a grin of my own as I reached out and grabbed her hand, causing her to squeal. “We’d better hurry back…before I get some funny ideas to do to you.”

“We-We really don’t have to hurry…” she protested before falling into giggles as we ran, hand-in-hand, back to the Reference Room.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point**

“Took you long enough,” Kyou greeted as Yukine and I entered the Reference Room. “Did you two have a good time?”

Yukine’s revelation about Kyou flashed through my mind again, paralyzing my tongue. Fortunately, my kouhei had my back: “Tomoya saved me from being hit by a baseball, and we got stuck in the storage shed for a while.” She folded her hands as her cheeks colored. “I’m sorry we were gone for so long.”

“W-Well…” Kyou sputtered, “I guess it’s okay, then.” She still looked irritated, but I chalked it up to Kyou being Kyou.

“The place looks a lot better,” I finally managed to say, having gotten my voice back. “How much is there left to do?”

Tomoyo appeared from behind one of the bookcases, running her fingers through her hair. “I’ve just finished stacking and sorting the shoujo manga.”

“That just leaves the puzzle, seinen and josei to organize,” Fujibayashi noted.

“Wow, you got a lot done in just….waitaminute….Seinen? Josei?” I gave her an incredulous look. “Just what kind of students does this school have, anyway?”

“All kinds, apparently,” Tomoyo replied coolly.

“Are there any physics books?” Kotomi asked, having appeared next to me rather suddenly.

“I’m…afraid not,” Yukine answered with a sympathetic giggle. “I don’t think the school would confiscate those.”

Kotomi nodded but still looked disappointed.

“Well…since the table’s clear, would anyone like coffee?” Yukine offered as she moved to her prep station.

“Yes please.” I was feeling a little tired, and figured the coffee would give me the ‘kick’ that I needed. Kyou also accepted, but Fujibayashi and Tomoyo declined.

“So this is the seinen?” I asked, gesturing with my freshly-received mug. “It doesn’t look like there’s much; couldn’t we combine it with another small pile?”

Tomoyo folded her arms as she looked at the pile. “We could, but…Yukine’s worried that having two different kinds on the same shelf would make them more likely to get messed up.”

“And we might get more in,” Yukine added. “Having the space will give us more flexibility.”

“I see what you mean,” I said, then looked over at her with a smile. “I guess I was trying to be a little too efficient.”

“It’s okay,” she replied, shaking her head. “That you’re thinking about it tells me you care.”

I felt my face heat up as I remembered our conversation in the storage shed. “Y-Yeah.”

Just then, the intercom sounded. _“Okazaki Tomoya, please report to the office.”_

“Uh-oh,” Kyou chided. “What did you do this time?”

I snorted. “I’m too boring for there to be an any ‘time’.”

_“Okazaki Tomoya, please report to the office; you have a phone call.”_

My eyebrows jumped; who would be calling me at this time? “Well, whatever,” I decided. “Sorry, guys; I’ll take care of this quickly and be back.”

“It’s okay, Okazaki-kun; we’ll take a short break then work on organizing again.” Fujibayashi said.

“Right,” Yukine agreed. “Take your time. We’ll be here.”

Tomoyo looked worried, though. “Do you want me to come with you, just in case?”

“In case of what?” I asked. “What could happen to me between here and the office?”

She opened her mouth, paused as if in thought, then closed it again with a grimace.

“I’ll be fine,” I tried to reassure her. “It’s probably my dad calling to let me know he’ll be home late from work or something.” I lifted a hand in farewell as I headed for the door. “I’ll be back soon.”

***

“Okazaki Tomoya?” the secretary asked as I entered the office.

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry to take so long.” I took the phone from her. “Hello? This is Okazaki.”

_“Tomoya?”_

“Misae?” What was she doing, calling the school during lunch? “What’s going on? Are you okay? Is Shima okay?”

_“It’s…”_ She seemed to be having trouble finding her words, and her voice was definitely shaking. _“Could…could you come over?”_

“Can it wait until after school? I’m still in the middle of my day.”

_“Please, Tomoya…you’d said you’d come if…”_

Crap; I had said that, hadn’t I? “All right. I’m sorry, I’ll figure out a way. Just…hang in there, okay?”

_“Okay. Just…please hurry.”_

***

“Go ahead,” Tomoyo replied smoothly as she pushed her hair over her ear. “You need to keep your promises to your friends. When will you be back?”

I shrugged. “I wish I could tell you, but I’m not sure what’s going on. I mean, I’ll be back as soon as I can, but…”

Tomoyo nodded. “I understand. You’ll need an alibi, so I’ll come with you.”

“Huh?”

“I’m coming too,” Kyou decided. “She helped Ryou and me out, so we’ll want to return the favor,” she said as she looked over at her sister, who nodded emphatically.

“Me too,” Kotomi declared. At everyone’s puzzled looks she blushed. “I will help Tomoya-kun help her.”

I looked over at Yukine. “I’m sorry…again. It seems like you keep getting put on the back burner.”

Yukine giggled with her hand over her mouth. “It’s okay, Tomoya-kun; I understand. In fact, I’ll go with you, too.”

I looked around the room. It was nice that they all wanted to help, but… “Okay; you can all come, but she sounded pretty upset so she may not be ready for all of you. She called me, after all, so she won’t be expecting you.”

“If we have to, we’ll wait outside,” Tomoyo said, to everyone’s agreement.

I looked around once more. “Well, if we’re all ready, then…let’s go!”

***

The girls stood across the hall from Misae’s door as I knocked. We figured that she could see them and decide whether she wanted everyone in her room or not.

It was only a few seconds before the door opened. “Thank god Tomoya, I…” she trailed off as her gaze shifted over my shoulder. “Wh-Why are they here?”

I sent a brief glance at the group of girls. “After I told them I was coming to help you, they…kind of insisted.”

“If we’re going to be a problem, we can leave,” Tomoyo offered.

“It’s fine, really,” Fujibayashi added. “We don’t know what’s going on, but we’d like to help if we can.”

Misae’s anxious gaze flickered between me and the girls before finally settling on me. “I…won’t be a very good hostess, but…I could use all the sympathy I can get right now.” She stepped back, opening the door the rest of the way. “P-Please come in.”


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Saying ‘Goodbye’**

Tomoyo and Fujibayashi exited the kitchen area and started handing out warm cups of tea as Shima and I stared at each other. He still lay on his side on the pillow and, from what I could tell, hadn’t moved since the last time we spoke.

“He…He started shaking all of a sudden and I couldn’t get him to stop,” Misae explained between sips. “When holding him didn’t help, the only thing I could think of was to call you.”

“Why didn’t you call the vet?” I asked. “They’re the experts, and they have his test results, don’t they?”

With trembling hands she carefully placed her mug on the table. “That’s…true, but…” she briefly glanced around at the girls, “…you were the first one I thought of to call.”

I sighed heavily; I was starting to sound more and more like her every day. “I appreciate that, Misae, but what do you expect…?” I trailed off as I realized what she would want, and I found myself awkwardly glancing at the assembled girls. Misae and I knew about my ability to ‘talk’ with Shima, but the others… “I get it. This’ll be awkward, but…I get it.”

Misae wrung her hands before her chest. “Thank you, Tomoya. This means a lot to me.”

“Get what?” Kyou demanded. “What does she want you to do?”

I ignored her question as I knelt down so I could focus on talking with Shima without dying of embarrassment. “Shima?”

_“Tomoya…”_

“Sorry to take so long to ask, but…what happened?”

“Tomoya; why are you talking to the cat?” Kyou’s voice came again.

“Not now, Kyou,” I said abruptly. “I’ll explain later, I promise.”

“Onee-chan…” Fujibayashi said, “…maybe we should just let him do…whatever he needs to do.”

Kyou ‘humphed’ as she crossed her arms, but was otherwise quiet.

Satisfied that we wouldn’t be interrupted again, I turned back to Shima. “Are you okay?”

 _“I don’t think so.”_  I saw his side rise and fall as though he was sighing. _“I don’t think I’m going to be around much longer.”_

I decided to hold off on repeating his words until I could get a better idea of the situation. “What makes you say that?”

“Tomoya?” I heard Misae ask in a concerned tone, and I lifted a hand to let her know that I needed more time.

_“I think…my time as a human shortened my life.”_

“Shortened your life?” I repeated without meaning to, and I had to force myself to ignore Misae’s shocked gasp. “How would that have shortened it?”

Shima looked so sleepy as he answered. _“I don’t know, but I know that it did.”_

After an anxious glance at Misae I asked: “How much longer do you have?”

The rest of us jerked as Misae shot to her feet. “WHAT?!” Before any of us could react, she stormed over and yanked me to my feet by my collar. “What do you mean ‘how much longer’?!”

“Misae…” was all I could say as I tried to get my wits back from the sudden movement. In the background I could hear panicked cries from the girls.

“Sagara-san!” I heard Tomoyo call out. “Let him go!”

“Answer me, Tomoya!” Misae ordered, shaking me. “Why are you asking that?!” Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tomoyo take hold of one of Misae’s arms.

What surprised me, though, was to see Yukine take hold of her other arm. “Sagara-san, please!” she begged. “Tomoya’s trying to help you!”

The two of them managed to get Misae to let go of me and get her back over to the couch. I ran my hands through my hair and tucked my shirt in again, more to calm my nerves than to fix my appearance.

Once things had settled down somewhat I knelt down to talk to Shima again. “Sorry about that, Shima; I could have handled that better.”

_“I’m sorry, Tomoya.”_

“For what?”

_“For…causing problems for you.”_

I barked a laugh. “Causing problems for me? Here you are, telling me you don’t have much time left, and you’re worried about me?” I reached out and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder; it felt so thin. “I’m here for you, buddy.”

A slow blink. _“Thank you, Tomoya.”_ Another sigh. _“Honestly? I think I may be gone by the end of the day.”_

I suddenly felt very cold. “By…? No….”

I found myself hauled to my feet again, with Misae’s furious expression dominating my field of view. “WHAT?! You’d better tell me what’s going on, or-”

_“STOP IT!!”_

I winced at the volume, and was surprised to find myself released. I looked to Misae to find her with an astonished look. “T-Tomoya…?”

Puzzled by her actions, I looked around the room to see the others with equally astonished expressions.

“Did you hear that, Onee-chan?” Fujibayashi asked.

“Yeah,” Kyou replied while holding her head. “It was like I heard it in my head instead of my ears.”

“Amazing…” Kotomi breathed.

I looked from the women to Shima and back. “Wait…you heard him?”

“I think so,” Tomoyo said in a husky voice. “The voice said ‘Stop it’ didn’t it?”

“Was that the cat?” Yukine asked with wonder in her eyes.

I nodded. “That was Shima all right.” I turned back to him. “How did you do that?”

Another slow blink. _“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’ll be able to talk with Misae one more time…and you don’t have to worry about getting beat up any more.”_

“One last time…?” I heard Misae say, and I turned to see her standing with her hands crossed over her chest. “No…Shima…” She rushed forward and picked up her friend, pressing his face to hers. “You promised…you’d be with me forever!”

_“I’m sorry, Misae. I can’t be with you forever like this, but…I’ll be with you in some form-”_

“NO!! NO!!” Misae cried as she rubbed her face against his. “You can’t!!” Her eyes were desperate, wild. “If…if you go, I’ll be alone! Do you want that?!”

 _“Misae, Misae…”_ Shima’s tone was gently admonishing. _“You won’t be alone; look around you.”_

She looked up from her friend at me and the girls. I snuck a glance at the others to see them with looks of varying degrees of compassion and admiration.

“Everyone…” Misae breathed, though the tears still flowed.

Yukine smiled awkwardly. “We may not be furry or have four legs, but I’d like to think we could be friends.”

“You helped me become Student Body President and sent me to Tomoya when I needed help with the festival,” declared Tomoyo. “Please consider me a friend from now on.”

“I respect you a lot,” Kyou said simply. “If it weren’t for you, we’d still be struggling with math.” She looked over at her sister, who nodded emphatically.

Everyone’s attention then fixed on Kotomi who, understandably, shrunk under the collective gaze. “I…I can help you with your homework?”

A trembling smile broke out across Misae’s face, and she chuckled as she dabbed at her eyes with the back of her free hand. “Thank you, everybody, but-”

“Don’t worry about Shima-san,” came a voice I hadn’t heard in a while. “He’ll be happy where he’s going, and he can keep an eye on you.”

“Fuuko!” Kotomi cried as she grabbed onto her ’sister’.

Fuuko briefly returned Kotomi’s embrace before gently pushing herself away and making her way over to Misae. “I know where he’s going because I can see it from where I am,” she explained as she absently exchanged another hug, this time with Fujibayashi.

Misae blinked teary eyes at her before looking to me with a curious expression. “It’s a long story, but you can trust her,” I said.

 _“Girls…”_ Shima drew our attention back as he addressed my friends. _“Please be good friends to Misae.”_

“You got it,” Tomoyo replied. “You can count on us.”

“Ryou and I will be the bestest friends she could ever ask for,” Kyou declared as Ryou nodded. Even though we all knew that ‘bestest’ wasn’t a word, we knew what she meant.

“Sh-Shima-kun,” Kotomi said with folded hands, “I…I-I-I will do my best.”

“She won’t be wanting for friends,” Yukine added with an odd smile, and it occurred to me that she might have been referring to her gang-member buddies.

Misae looked genuinely touched. “Thank you, everybody.”

_“Tomoya…”_

It was my turn, apparently. “Yeah?”

He lifted his head to look directly at me. “ _Please take care of Misae from now on.”_

I could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on me. “I will.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. _“And you’d better take good care of her…or else.”_

I didn’t need to know what ‘else’ he was talking about. “I promise. I’ll do right by her.”

Apparently satisfied, he rested his head against Misae again. “ _Thank you, Okazaki Tomoya. I’m so tired…”_ With that, he closed his eyes and sighed.

“Shima?” Misae jostled her arms, trying to wake him as she peered into his face. “Shima?!”

All of us were left stunned as his body started to glow. The light became so intense that I had to shield my eyes, and when I looked at the others I saw that they were having to do the same. Only Fuuko seemed to be able to look directly at the light.

_“I’ll always love you, Sagara Misae.”_

The light faded, leaving Misae with empty arms and a bewildered expression.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Broken**

I groaned as I sat up to hit my alarm. Dealing with Misae’s situation the night prior had been exhausting, but I had still found it difficult to get to sleep. I had lost track of the day, so I was glad to find out that today was a Saturday, meaning that we would only have half a day of school.

I yawned my way through breakfast, I yawned as I got dressed, and I was still yawning as I opened the door to head to school.

“Good morning, Tomoya!”

That voice was a little too cheery for my liking, and I was about to tell her so until I realized who it was. “Misae…?”

It was Misae…but it wasn’t. If I hadn’t seen the visions that Shima had given me I might never have recognized her. She wore what looked like the same uniform that she wore when she was a student of Hikarizaki and her hair was down, except for the ponytail she had tied back with a ribbon. It was as though her past self had come to the present.

“Are you ready, sleepyhead?” she _giggled?!_ “Hurry up, we’re going to be late!”

“Right,” I said, not sure what was going on. “Sorry.”

“Hurry up or I’ll drag you there!” she exclaimed as she took my arm. My eyes widened as I felt her breasts press against my arm, and I had to fight to beat back my libido. Checklist, Okazaki: Before sex, marriage. Before marriage, proposal. Before proposal, dating. Before dating, figure out what’s happened to Misae!

“Okay, okay,” I said as I forced my legs to move. “Take it easy on me; I didn’t sleep very well last night.”

I noticed a definite pause before she released my arm, giving it an affectionate pat. “I’m sorry, Tomoya; I didn’t know.” She gave me the biggest smile I think I had ever seen from her, and I warmed my heart. “I guess it’s okay if we’re a little late.”

“No no,” I said. “I’ll be all right. Let’s go.”

As we hustled I thought about the situation; Misae was walking to school with me in her old school uniform – hey, she even had her bag! – like she was a high-school student. Everything about her looked exactly as I remembered from Shima’s visions.

She caught me glancing over at her and smirked. “Like what you see?”

“Well, yeah,” I admitted. “But…” How to broach the subject? “…why are you dressed like that?”

Her smile turned impish. “Why am I dressed like this? It’s a school day, isn’t it?”

“Well yeah, but-”

“Would you prefer I came to school naked?”

“NO!” I yelled before I could catch myself. “I just mean…Why are you going to school?”

Her next words chilled me to the bone: “Why am I going to school?! I’m a student, aren’t I?”

***

The minute we passed though the school gates she latched onto my arm again. “Heehee…”

I smiled and shook my head. If she was doing this to cope with her loss, then maybe the best thing to do was just let her. I had to admit, having her holding my arm was nice. “Having fun there?”

“Mmm-hmm!” she started humming a tune that I didn’t recognize, probably from back when she was as student.

I was glad to hear her humming happily, but the overall situation concerned me. Her behavior was quite the contrast to the teary mess I had seen the night prior.

She had basically gone into meltdown after Shima disappeared, crying hysterically in a crumpled heap on the floor, and it took all of us over an hour to get her to settle down enough to drink some tea and go to bed. The girls had to help her get changed, so I had been booted to the hallway while they got her ready. Apparently she had asked for me after she had been tucked into bed, because Tomoyo came out to get me. I went into her room to find her staring at the ceiling and held her hand for a few minutes before gently kissing her on the forehead and wishing her a restful sleep.

Apparently the giggle-storm holding my arm had rested well enough, as she alternated humming and giggling right up to the door to my classroom. I half-expected to part ways with her there, but she followed me right in. “I’m sitting next to you today,” she declared.

“Ooookay.”

As I took my seat, she gently kicked the leg of the desk where Sunohara’s head rested. “Hey,” she said. “You’re in my seat.”

“Ehhhhhhhhh?” my yellow-haired comrade replied as he looked up with bleary eyes; he had probably stayed up until the crack of dawn, as was his usual. “Whuzzat, are we switching seats again?”

“That’s right,” Misae confirmed. “I’m sitting next to Tomoya.” She gestured toward the floor at the back of the room. “You can just….sit over there or something.”

“Okay,” he said. With that, he collected his books and relocated to the back of the room, laying himself out on the floor, and it wasn’t long before he was asleep again.

In the meantime, Misae settled down in Sunohara’s old seat. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to focus today with you next to me.”

“I‘ll try not to be a distraction,” I said dryly.

“See that you don’t, or I’ll have to punish you,” she said with the second impish grin of the day.

About a minute later Fujibayashi came in, causing me to realize that Sunohara how somehow gotten to school before most of us. Had he been sleeping here since yesterday?

She did a double-take when she saw Misae sitting next to me and looked at me with a puzzled expression. I could only shrug my shoulders in response. After putting her stuff away she approached my seatmate. “Hello. A-Are you a new student?”

“Oh Fujibayashi, you’re so silly!” Misae laughed. “You know who I am! Stop kidding around!”

She looked to me with a panicked expression, so I mouthed the words ‘Sagara Misae’, and her expression changed to one of disbelief. “O-Of course, Sagara-san! O-Of course I was kidding!” she said with a blush. “I’m sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Misae said, waving a hand.

Fujibayashi glanced cautiously at me before speaking again. “By the way… Did you sleep okay last night? You seemed really upset after Shima…well, vanished.”

Misae’s words chilled me to the bone for the second time that day: “Shima? Who’s that?”


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Compound Fractures**

“’Who’s that?’” Fujibayashi repeated. “Wasn’t ‘Shima’ the name of your cat?”

“You’re so funny,” Misae said as she shook her head. “I don’t have a cat.”

“I know, but…” Fujibayashi trailed off as she saw my barely-perceptible head shake. “Never mind; I must be mistaken.”

“I’m sorry your day’s off to a rough start,” Misae said consolingly. “Chin up, though; I’m sure it’ll get better!”

“Th-Thank you,” Fujibayashi replied. “I-I’d better get to my seat since class is about to start.”

“Scoot along, then,” Misae said, giving her a wink. “I’ll keep Loverboy here under control.”

“Loverboy?!” I protested.

“R-right.” And with that, Fujibayashi hurried to her seat and plopped into it. For the rest of the school day, I would occasionally catch her stealing glances back at the two of us.

A few minutes later our homeroom teacher entered. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Misae, but she was quickly forgotten as he then saw Sunohara snoozing at the back of the room.

Surprisingly, the morning went pretty smoothly considering the school’s unexpected guest. I considered the possibility that word had gotten around about her situation, so the teachers weren’t saying anything out of sympathy.

The minute school ended for the day, Misae attached herself to my arm again. “Where do you want to go today?” she asked cheerfully.

I was momentarily at a loss for words, mainly because I could feel her breasts against my arm again. So soft… I quickly cleared my throat. “Uh…I haven’t given it any thought, to be honest.”

“Good. I like honesty.”

“Is there any place you’d like to go?”I asked.

“Well…” she brought her mouth up to my ear. “I’d like to take a walk in the park with you.”

“What about your dorm mother duties?”

“Dorm mother?” she gasped. “You really think they would give that job to a high-school student?”

“R-Right, my mistake.” This was getting worse by the minute. Misae had clearly detached herself from reality in some way, and I’d need to check with the office to make sure the boys’ dorm wouldn’t explode while Misae put herself back together. “The, ah, park sounds fine, but I need to check with the office before I can leave.”

“Did you get in trouble again?” she asked, giving me a sly look.

“Something like that,” I replied honestly as the class rep approached. “Hey, why don’t you hang out with Fujibayashi while you wait?”

“Okazaki-kun…?”

“I have to go to the office,” I said, giving her a meaningful look, “so I was thinking the two of you could hang out while she waits for me. I shouldn’t be long.” I really hoped my class rep would get the message.

Thankfully, she understood. “O-Okay. I have to wait for Onee-chan anyway, so this works out…nicely?”

“Great,” I said. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“W-Wait!” Misae cried out as she hurried up to me. “I want to go with you.”

“I-I need to take care of this myself,” I said, trying to ignore the chill that ran down my spine as she looped her fingers together behind my neck. Our faces were so close… “I-I won’t be long, I promise.”

She released me and gave me the cutest pout I had ever seen. “Hmph. Fine, but you owe me for this.”

“The park and an ice cream cone,” I promised.

“…a good start,” she said as she leveled a catlike smile at me. I suddenly felt very vulnerable and ran from the classroom.

***

“Hmmm. Yes, we know about it,” Koumura-sensei said with a gentle smile. “We did not expect her to come to school as a student, but different people deal with loss in different ways.”

“She won’t lose her job as dorm mother, will she sir?” I asked, fidgeting in my seat. As much as I respected the man, his slow speech was driving me crazy.

He reached out and rested a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Do not worry about her job, young Tomoya. You have other…concerns.”

“Concerns? What do you mean? Is there something I can do?”

The old teacher nodded sagely. “Indeed there is. In fact, this is something only you can do, young man.”

I suddenly felt awkward, and I was sure my laugh reflected it. “You make me sound like a hero from a video game.”

“I am not qualified to comment specifically to that, but I can say that your responsibility is greater than that of any fictitious character.” He leaned forward, though it was hard to tell due to his tendency to slouch. “She needs you, Okazaki Tomoya.”

“Needs me?” I repeated. “I don’t mean to be rude, sir, but I think you’re overstating my importance.”

His eyebrows jumped. “Hmmmm? Such an impressive vocabulary! Misae-san has been a very good influence on you. But to address your concern,” he said, rubbing at his chin, “She seems to have gone to the past, and will need you to help bring her back to the present.”

“I assume you don’t mean that in a literal sense, just that she’s…mentally gone back?”

“That is correct,” he replied. “You are her only connection to the present at this time. You need to help her deal with her loss in a positive manner. It is your responsibility as her boyfriend.”

I felt my face heat up. “I’m not her boyfriend, sir.”

“Hmmm. But you do have strong feelings toward her, do you not?”

My face felt hotter. “Does everyone know about that?”

“Yes.” A simple answer.

I slapped my hands against my knees as I started to get up from my seat. “Figures. Well, I guess I’d better get to work, then. Excuse me, please.”

“Tomoya-san?”

I stopped with my hand on the doorknob. “Yes, sir?”

He gave me another kind smile. “You have grown so much in just the last few weeks. I am proud of you, and believe that you can do this.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said as I tried to ignore the lump in my throat and the pressure behind my eyes. “I won’t let you down…or Misae.”

His smile broadened. “Yes, you will be very good for her….”

I headed back to the classroom with his encouraging words resounding in my heart.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty: Altering Course**

“What are we doing here?” Misae demanded with her fists on her hips as the usual group stood nearby with concerned expressions. “I thought we were going to the park!”

From the middle of the Reference Room I pressed my hands together in apology. “I’m really sorry, Misae. You took me by surprise this morning, and I forgot my obligation to Yukine…again.” I pivoted to Yukine with my hands still together. “I’m sorry, Yukine…again. I’ll understand if you don’t want to have anything more to do with me.”

“Actually, I have a lot more I’d like to do with you,” Yukine replied while blushing fiercely; she was sure getting bold. “But I’ll understand if today won’t work.”

“No. Today will work,” I said, then paled as I realized how our exchange could have sounded, so I pivoted back to Misae. “I promised Yukine that I’d help her reorganize the Reference Room. We’re almost done, so I’d like to finish it. We should have plenty of time to go to the park afterward.”

Misae’s hands dropped to her sides. “That’s right, I did send her to…” her voice trailed off as her eyes appeared to lose focus. She quickly regained her composure, though. “Actually no, I don’t remember that. I couldn’t have done that. I’m a student after all. A student.”

The other girls and I exchanged glances; it was clear that Misae knew better, but was trying to ignore it. I couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with the loss of Shima, and-

Wait a minute…she met Shima in her third year of high school, so all her memories of him would have started then. Was she trying to use me to ‘overwrite’ her memories of him? “Misae? Would you be willing to help out? We just need to get these books on the shelves and organized.”

She pursed her lips and wrinkled her forehead. “Okay,” she finally said. “But you and I are going to the park and getting ice cream afterward; I don’t care what time it is, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am!” I gave her a salute. “You can count on me!” Around me I could hear muted giggling.

“We’ll see if I can count on you,” she retorted with a scowl. “You’re not off to a good start, leading me on like that this morning and then trying to blame me for it.”

I dropped my salute. “I wasn’t trying to blame you, Misae; I was trying to tell you what happened.” I let my love for her show in my smile. “I’ll just have to learn to do a better job of keeping my head even when you’re around.”

Her scowl dropped with an audible whimper. “T-Tomoya…”

I reached down for a short stack of books. “Come on, let’s get this done and go get ice cream!”

***

“MMMMMMMMMMMMM!!” Misae squealed and kicked as she took her first bite of her ice cream cone. “I haven’t had ice cream in sooooooo long!”

I chuckled at her excitement. “Well, you make sure to enjoy every bite, then.”

She didn’t answer, but gave me an appreciative glance over her cone as she took another bite.

While we ate, I took the time to think about the situation. Other than her slip-up in the Reference Room she showed no signs of remembering anything of the last few years. She was treating me like her boyfriend, most likely to try to cover up the memory of her time with Shima. It made sense; if she could have a romantic relationship with me, she could use that to replace the relationship she had with him. As much as I liked the idea of not having a rival, I knew that it wouldn’t be good for her in the long run. Besides, Shima deserved better than to be forgotten or, worse, treated as though he had never existed. The question was: How could I force her to think of him?

Then it hit me: What if I actually tried to replace her memories of him? I could remember all of the things they did together as though his memories were mine. What if I reenacted them? It might force her to remember when she and Shima did the activity together.

And I knew just the memory to reenact. “Hey, Misae?”

She swallowed her bit of cone. “Yeah?”

I gave her another smile filled with genuine love and affection. “I’d like to take you somewhere special after this. Would that be okay?”

She gave me a sly grin. “As long as it’s a park that has lots of places for a couple of teens to hide, I’m game.”

“I think you’ll like it,” I said, trying to shove my libido back in its box.

“Those other girls won’t be there, will they?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.

“I haven’t invited them,” I said. “Why? Do they bother you?”

“Why would they bother me?” she said dramatically. “They only want my boyfriend for themselves.”

In light of her earlier statement I decided not to point out that she had sent them to me. “I know. I was surprised when Yukine-”

“Not just her,” she interrupted.”Every one of those girls I sent to you has fallen for you…even Ghost Girl.”

“I know,” I repeated, ignoring that fact that she had just blown her cover. “But I turned them down. I helped them with their problems but told them that I couldn’t return their…affections.” I leaned across the table to look more directly into her eyes. “I already have eyes for the perfect woman.”

Her hand went to her chest. “Why are you still so caught up with an old woman like me?”

The question sounded funny, considering that she was still in her school uniform, but I managed to not laugh. “Old?” I asked, deliberately wrinkling my forehead. “Since when is a high-schooler ‘old’?”

“I…well I’m…” She seemed to be having trouble finding the words, and I was more than I little relieved to see the façade starting to crack.

“Misae? You okay?” I asked, forcing my concern to override my mirth.

She abruptly stood up and grabbed me by the hand. “L-L-Let’s go to that park you were talking about,” she said as she dragged me out the ice cream shop’s door.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty-One: Restoration**

“Y-You wanted to go here?” she asked as we stood at the park entrance.

“Why not? It’s a nice place…with plenty of hiding spots for two teenagers in love.” I replied with a sly smile.

The truth was, I had taken her to the very park where Shima had confessed to her several years prior. I knew that I could have been risking my relationship with her by doing this, but it was more important to me that she become ‘whole’ again. If that meant having her hate me…

…I could live with that. “C’mon, have a seat,” I said, patting the very swing she had been sitting in when Shima had found her.

She cautiously made her way over and sat in the indicated seat. “O-Okay…I’m sitting.”

I smiled lovingly at her; too easy to do, really. “You know, this reminds me of something I heard once.” I took a deep breath and braced myself. “’Love is like fireworks from days far-’”

POW!

Pain exploded in the side of my face at Misae’s blow. “YOU BASTARD!!” she yelled. Before I had a chance to recover she managed to knock me to the ground, straddle me, and grab me by my collar. “You asshole! I’m trying to forget the pain, and you’re bringing it all back!” She drew back her fists and started pounding my chest. “Why?! Why are you doing this to me?!”

I managed to get my wits about me and grab a hand before she could bring it down again. She screamed in rage as she raised the other fist, but I grabbed that one with my other hand. It then turned into a wrestling match of sorts, with Misae struggling to get her hands free.

“I’m doing this because Shima deserves better than this!” I yelled.

She stopped struggling. “Huh?” she asked, her face still reddened with anger.

I looked her square in the eyes. “He meant a lot to you, and that’s why it hurts so much. I understand that it hurts so much that you want it to stop, but trying to forget him won’t work! You’ll just end up shoving your feelings down and they’ll eat at you for the rest of your life! Do you want that?”

“But-”

“And what about Shima? He deserves better than to be just forgotten or treated like he never existed!” A thought came to me suddenly. “And even if you managed to remove him from your life, you’d just have a big hole where he used to be.”

“T-Tomoya…” Her eyes glimmered as she started to tremble.

“It’s okay, Misae…cry as much as you need to. He meant a lot to you, so crying is normal. Pretending to not know him is not. Cry as much as you need to; I’ll help dry your tears.”

“Why…Why are you…”

“Not to try to win your heart,” I interrupted, “but because I really do love you. Because of that, I want what’s best for you. If that means…” I took a deep breath. “If that means losing you and having you hate me, then I accept that.”

“STOP IT!” she cried as she started thrashing again. “Stop being so…so good to me!!” And with that she collapsed on top of me, crying uncontrollably, her hands slipping out of mine. I carefully wrapped my arms around her and held her as she cried as much as she wanted.

***

She was surprisingly light for an adult. I realized this on the way to the boys’ dorm as I carried her sleeping form on my back. When I thought about it more, I also realized that even though she was older than me I was still taller. I chuckled at my own juvenile logic; she’s older, so she should be taller, right?

She had basically cried herself to sleep at the park. It had taken me several minutes to realize that she had fallen asleep, so I had carefully turned myself over from underneath her and, with some equally careful movements, managed to get to my feet with her on my back.

I thought about what I knew of her life prior to me meeting her – more like my intrusion into her life – and I had to admit that I really hadn’t approached her very respectfully. I had basically invited myself into her room and pried into her love life and history; not very considerate of me to do.

But…I had learned from the experiences and had vowed to do better by her. My time with the girls had given me some insights into the female sex, which not only gave me insights into women in general, but had also helped me grow as a man.

“Mmmmm…” she grunted, and I could feel her start to stir.

“Morning, Misae,” I said with a smile.

”Morning, Tomoy-hey, why am I on your back?”

I paused to adjust her position. “You fell asleep, so I’m carrying you home.”

She tensed up. “Whose home?”

I coughed to conceal my chuckle. “Your home, of course. I’m not going to take you to my place.”

She relaxed again. “Oh, okay. For a moment there I thought you were going to take me to your place and do perverted things to me.”

I allowed myself to chuckle this time. “No, I won’t do that unless you ask me to.”

I felt a gentle swat on the back of my head. “You naughty boy. Put me down.”

“I don’t mind carrying you, Misae.”

“Well I do,” she huffed, so I carefully lowered her to the ground and turned to find her adjusting her skirt and brushing at it. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” I said. “Any time you need to be carried, I’ll be there.”

She stopped cleaning and straightened to look me in the eye. “I know you will, Tomoya...” she tilted her head at me. “You’re dependable like that, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know about that,” I admitted. “I just know that I love you and want to take care of you…if you’ll let me.”

Her lower lip started to tremble. “You really like making women cry, don’t you?”

“Not by hurting them,” I said, reaching out to smooth back a lock of her beautiful hair. “But if I make you cry from making you feel special or from taking care of you…that’s okay, isn’t it?”

Misae gazed at me with teary eyes for several seconds before stepping forward and wrapping me in an embrace. Her voice came in a shudder: “I-I love you, Tomoya.”


	32. Chapter 32

**Epilogue: Home**

I paused just before the door and smiled as I heard rowdy laughter from inside. It felt good to come home to a house full of laughter after a hard day at work.

A pile of people greeted my sight as I entered the house. Misae and the boys were roughhousing in the middle of the living room. Of course, Misae was doing most of the roughhousing since our twin sons were just a little over a year old, but still… “Having fun there?”

“Ah! Tomoya!” Misae quickly got to her feet. “Rei, Kei, daddy’s home!”

The boys got to their feet and waddled over to me as quickly as toddlers could as I knelt down. “Da! Daaaa!” they cried, exhausting one-fifth of their known vocabulary.

I laughed as I picked them up, one in each arm, and walked over to Misae. “I’m home,” I said before giving her a peck on the lips. “How was everything today?”

She pulled the clip from her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders again, and I was reminded how she used to have her hair up when she worked at the boys’ dorm at the high school. “About what you’d expect from two boys,” she replied with an exaggerated sigh. “I’ve heard the phrase ‘herding cats’ and I think whoever came up with that was thinking of little boys.”

“Hey,” I complained half-heartedly before chuckling sympathetically. “You seemed to be having fun just now, though.”

“Yeah,” she said, then swatted me in the arm – gently of course, I was holding Kei in that arm after all. “They’re good boys for their age, I guess.”

“Well, they have you to keep them in line,” I remarked with a gentle smile.

She quickly averted her eyes as she blushed lightly. “Thank you, Tomoya.” Then she fisted her hips as she gave me a mock glare. “I don’t get it; how can you still make me blush after three years of marriage?”

“It’s a gift,” I quipped as I handed the boys to her. “Let me get changed and I’ll help you with dinner.”

“You don’t need to help,” she said. “It’s an easy meal today; I’m just waiting for the vegetables to finish steaming. You could set the table, though.”

“You can count on me,” I replied, thumping my chest.

***

As I changed out of my work clothes into more normal ones I thought back on the last few years.

After Misae’s confession to me on the way home from the park, we had started dating. Of course we couldn’t do much at first since I was still in high school and didn’t have any money, but it turned out that we found plenty to do. When she wasn’t taking care of her dorm mother duties we would go for walks, either in one of the parks or just around town. Sometimes we would talk the whole time, sometimes neither of us would say anything.

We were…comfortable with each other.

In fact we were emotionally and mentally ready to marry about the time I graduated high school, but I didn’t want to put her in the position of supporting both of us. I had worked hard to bring my grades up but it wasn’t enough, so I ended up taking a job as an electrician. A desire to get out of my dad’s house as well as a desire to marry Misae drove me to work hard and study hard and, about a couple of years later I was able to propose to her…more a formality than anything by that point.

Sometime during all of this Fuuko came out of her coma and somehow managed to track me down, so then I had to juggle wedding plans, my job, and visits to the hospital to help her with her physical therapy. It wasn’t too much, though, as Misae insisted on helping as well. I suspected that she wanted to help partly because she felt responsible due to sending Fuuko to me, but more because she somehow knew that Fuuko had confessed to me and wanted to keep an eye on her.

Our wedding was beautiful, but not too over-the-top. Misae had become good friends with the girls, so she insisted on inviting them which, I thought, would make things a little awkward. And while things were awkward at first, everyone was able to have a good time. It helped that most of them were either married or in relationships, with Kotomi and Yukine being the only exceptions.

Oh, and Kyou; I was shocked when Fujibayashi told me that Kyou had died for ‘unknown reasons’. When I asked why I hadn’t received an invitation to the funeral all she would say was “It would have been…awkward.” Feeling like I’d stepped where I shouldn’t have, I apologized and left it at that.

Unsurprisingly, Yukine kept trying to sit next to me at the reception table; I figured she was having a difficult time letting go. Misae managed to distract her with conversation, which helped.

After a couple of years as an electrician I earned a manager’s position, which meant that I wouldn’t be climbing poles as much. This pleased my wife to no end since she would no longer have to worry about my shoulder. “I don’t want to lose you right after I got you,” she would say. Being a paper-pusher freed up more of my weekends for her.

And then Kei and Rei…I smiled as I slipped my indoor shoes back on and headed out to set the table.

***

“No Kei, food does not go on your brother’s arm,” my wife complained as she wiped Rei’s arm with a napkin.

“I dunno beautiful, it seems to go on just fine,” I said, then threw up my hands defensively at her dirty look. “Sorry, sorry…”

“You’re a big help,” she grumbled, but I could definitely hear a humorous tone under the grumbling.

After dinner I played on the floor with the boys, which mainly involved trading blocks with them.

“Tomoya?” Misae asked from the couch as Kei gave me the same block for the umpteenth time. “Are you glad you married me?”

I sighed; every once in a while she would start to doubt herself, starting this exchange. “Yeah, I’m glad!” I said as I crawled over to the couch, resting my crossed arms on her legs.

She shook her head. “But I still don’t get it; how can you be so interested in an old woman like mMMMPH!”

I silenced her complaint with a kiss. She tensed up at first like she did every other time, but eventually gave in to the kiss, relaxing her lips and wrapping her arms around me. How the boys managed to behave during all this, I’d never know. Maybe they were watching?

I broke the kiss to look her in the eyes. “Misae, I wouldn’t have proposed to you if I wasn’t in it for the long haul. Like I’ve said many times; I like how you scold, I like how you worry…” I leaned forward, nuzzling her face, “…and I like how you smell.”

I could feel her shiver. “T-Tomoya…”

Before straightening back up to look her in the eyes again I gently but playfully blew in her ear and give her a kiss on the cheek. “You care deeply about others, and I like that, Misae. I love you, beautiful.”

Her lip started to tremble as tears filled her eyes. “You…you really like making women cry, don’t you?”

And then she cried like a girl as she fell into my arms, our boys joining us with worried expressions.

I didn’t have to be rich or famous. I was perfectly content to be a husband to Misae and father to Kei and Rei; their companionship was all I needed.

_Rough Draft Complete_


End file.
